The Beast You Made of Me
by Chaotic Inverse
Summary: By night Blaine is a normal boy, by daylight he transforms into a wolf due to a family curse.With his time running out, he never thought that one night of rebellion would lead to a quest searching for a beautiful and captive boy, Kurt.
1. Chapter 1

Author's note: we've established that I have a weird mind this is just another outcome.

Fairytale/magical realism/fantasy thing? I don't know it's like a mash up of fairy tales and mythology (though those two tend to be intertwined anyway)

Warning: Fairytales originally were quite dark. This is more Grimm than Disney. (This chapter is pretty light-hearted though) Brittany!Warning.

Enough rambling.

-line break-

_Anyone who took a look at his family would never believe they were cursed. _From the top of their heads to the tips of their toes, the Andersons looked blessed. They were wealthy and full of pride, though why shouldn't they be? If they were not attractive then they were talented or just inherently lucky.

People outside the Family didn't know, couldn't know. It was 2011 now and no one believed in magic anymore. The days of spells and curses, fey and beast had been dead long ago and lying comfortably in their graves at the same time. Except for those still touched by it, except for those who had it pulsing in their veins.

His family was one such. In the days when man did believe in magic more than science, myth more than faith they'd been cursed. It doesn't matter why or even how, it was irreversible and inevitable.

They would always be cursed.

His family always knew he was different. From even before his birth they always knew the truth. When they saw his eyes, it just confirmed their beliefs- he was the next beast, a bastard in a long line of failures. The constant proof of their still existing curse in a living, breathing human body.

With their perfect smiles, sharp eyes and emotionless facades there had to be a contrast. What was the fun (not point, if there had been then they'd forgotten it years ago) in a curse without a twist?

Blaine was it, just like the ones before him. Compared to his family he was both human and inhuman.

It wasn't fair, not at all and he hated it more than he'd ever hated anything else in his tiny limited world.

The fairness of the curse didn't matter either.

It just keeps on moving, continuing throughout the Anderson Family the way it would till the last drop of their blood stopped dripping.

Blaine doesn't scream anymore, and he certainly doesn't cry either. By the time he was ten he could usually not scream _high-pitched screams, and the staff winces from downstairs, silent _though sometimes it just slipped out. By fifteen he'd learned that minimal movement helped, even when half his body was pulling him one way and the other half in the opposite direction. And at seventeen he got as close to mastering it as he thought he ever would.

So no Blaine didn't scream or cry, he'd long since stopped praying for it to stop. Part of the reason must have been that the time it took to change became shorter; a process that had taken over an hour reduced to mere minutes. Or maybe it was the other way around and the change became shorter because of his control over it? His parents didn't know and though grateful, Blaine didn't question it.

Questions just lead to answers that inevitably he wouldn't want to know.

It still feels the same when he changes. The quick, almost tense beginning _snap _followed by a rush of pain that if standing would have him collapsing to his knees. His eye-sight grows foggy, his hearing fades to dim buzzes as the world closes in on him. It starts in his chest, an aching sort of burn that spreads quickly. And then the change really happens. Bones cracking, shifting, moving, limbs following, and somehow he still survives it. Survives the feeling of being burned alive by his own organs and blood.

At Dusk, when it reverses the change happens pretty much the same way. A _snap, _heat, and bones shifting.

He's pretty much got his life down to a routine with the only interesting parts being Wes and David. They sneak into his room a few times a week, usually on the weekends, which is easy because Blaine takes off the alarm though David still believes it's because he's a ninja. It's sad but true to say that aside from the staff, they're the only people he ever sees.

His parents barely bother coming anymore. Maybe once or twice every two weeks but it seems to get harder for them as the years go by. But Blaine doesn't like to think about that, not very often and not while human.

Things hurt less when he's changed. With his mind dulled and his instincts taking their place.

Blaine paces around his room, long legs making the strides easier. Usually Cara or Annie, two of the maids that have been there the longest, will let him out though he told them he didn't feel like it today. It's easier to hear Wes and David coming if he's in his room.

Still even though his room is admittedly bigger than most (or so Wes and David tell him) it's frustrating darting across the same stretch of floor. He feels trapped and each second just leaves him more anxious. Huffing out a sigh, Blaine jumps easily onto his bed and curls in it, nearly burying himself under the heavy quilt. Mixed with his fur it'll make him almost uncomfortably hot but it also makes him feel safe and drowsy.

It feels like it's only been minutes (though it might have been hours, his sense of time is a bit _off _when he's changed) since he fell asleep when he's awoken by someone poking him sharply. "Oh Blainers." a voice sings out teasingly and he crawls out from the blankets, glaring at David.

David grins, closed-mouth, at him, "Aren't you a good boy? Whose a good boy? Blainers is!" He does it to annoy Blaine mainly, they've talked about the fact that Blaine can understand him perfectly. This is why Blaine's not going to feel bad for punching David when he's back to normal.

"David, stop trying to incite Blaine into biting you, we don't have a plausible cover for why your arm would be gouged off." And there's Wes pulling himself through Blaine's window. So they used the ladder tonight, David probably wanted to be a spy. "And besides we've talked about this; him biting you won't make you a werewolf."

David pouts.

Blaine rolls his eyes or rather tries his best and greets Wes with a quiet bark.

Wes leans down and holds out his hand before reaching to pet him and Blaine lets him once, enjoying the feel of fingers scratching his skin but then moves away because he's not a dog, and it's best to suppress all behavior that makes him seem less human.

David settles on to his bed and glances over at the clock impatiently as Wes starts to unpack their stuff. "When's he change back today?"

"6:53 pm." Wes knows when sunset is as well as Blaine does.

"Five minutes then." David starts digging through Blaine's books. "Want us to leave today or no?"

Sometimes Blaine lets them stay in the room when he changes, on the days that he thinks wont be so bad. If it's a bad day then they have to stay outside, and Blaine knows that they stay as close to the door as they can. He can smell their worry; worry is a bitter scent almost like something sharp and spicy but it's tinged with despair and it takes away any goodness it might have. He's not sure what's worse letting them stay and see it or keeping them outside and having to feel their worry while they hear him and wait. Neither option is preferable though he has to pick one because Wes and David will never leave.

Blaine hesitates and then shrugs. Today is a day that is somewhere in the middle and he won't know until he changes where exactly it falls.

"Three minutes." David announces quietly, and Blaine can feel himself start to tense. Three minutes sounds about right.

It's going to start soon, he can feel that in his bones, the almost shudder of them as he starts to pace again back to anxious. Wes and David settle into wait and he's grateful of the fact that they're quiet, at this point his mind can only handle so many things.

Blaine knows exactly when it hits 6:53. His body, his larger foreign body collapses down to the ground as it starts and he can feel things blur around him as the heat rushes up, and Blaine accidentally slips out a small whine. It hurts worse than usual, and Blaine is tense with the effort to not make a sound. His fur is almost stabbing him as he changes back, the process from beast to man is not one that should be possible and his body has to work just as hard to change him back. Bones prod and poke at him as they struggle to become more angular or wider, some moving farther up to accompany the height change which admittedly isn't much. Organs follow and Blaine can hear his blood pumping sluggishly as his heart moves.

With a quick, almost too quick rush of adrenaline everything is where it is supposed to be and Blaine is panting, lying curled up on the floor as he struggles to regain his breathe. Everything is where it supposed to be but it also hurts like hell.

At last the hot lighting leaves and Blaine shakily gets to his feet (He hasn't stumbled since he was twelve) , throwing on the shorts David hands him. "Water." he rasps out, voice too low and too raw.

Wes silently hands him a water bottle and Blaine downs it, not bothering to stop when he is almost choking on it. He's always thirsty afterwards, as if he's spent all the change in a desert and not in this too big and yet too small house.

Blaine finishes and he just stops, trying to let his brain and body adjust. It should be scarring, changing from boy to beast to beast to boy on a daily basis but Blaine deals with it, and he's about as well adjusted as someone like him can be.

Still, it helps if he takes a minute to just breathe, to remember that he has five fingers and five toes. That he has a set of nice human teeth instead of sharp too big fangs, that he has skin instead of fur, that he walks on two legs instead of four.

Sometimes his brain gets confused, unaware that something has changed even though it sets off the signals for the change itself.

Just a minute.

"Better?" David asks, still that quiet tone. Quiet and calm are the best things for when he's changed, his behavior is usual predictable though with quiet and calm it's easier to keep his instincts away.

Blaine nods, and gives him a small closed smile. It's hard remembering to smile, to remember that teeth don't mean something dangerous. "Yeah, I'm fine now."

Wes gives him one last check-over, trained eyes scanning for any injuries because sometimes Blaine does accidentally hurt himself. Finally he nods slightly. "Want food now or do you feel up to playing a video game?"

He is hungry but Blaine knows that if he eats this soon after a change then he'll want something more carnivore-esque. "Video game." He says and sits on the floor as he waits to kick David's ass.

-_line break-_

David unsurprisingly is the one that brings it up. Unsurprisingly because in their years of friendship David is the one that always brings up, eccentric damn-near impossible ideas.

"I think you should go out with us tomorrow." David says and he says it so suddenly that Blaine accidentally kills his character.

_What? _he thinks, hitting the pause button and tossing the control on the floor. Blaine looks at his friend incredulously who shrugs.

Wes is the one who actually says it. "What?" he's shocked enough that he actually closes his laptop, staring at David with a look that Blaine knows is his _David you are so fucking insane, please explain this before you cause my meticulously planned routine to break into pieces that I will end up picking up and sorting through because I have OCD-tendencies? _look.

David shrugs again, uncomfortable under the combined weight of Blaine and David's stares. "I said I think Blaine should hang out with us tomorrow, outside of the house."

Blaine already shakes his head, holding back a sigh. "David, you know I can't leave the house."

"Why not?"

"Because incase you haven't realized it, Blaine tends to be a bit wolf-like during the nice hours of the day." Wes says dryly. "And also we have school tomorrow."

"I didn't say when it was light outside, we can hang out when he changes back. And who cares about school anyway? Besides you I mean." David said reasonably. "Don't you want to get fresh air Blaine?"

Blaine shook his head. "I'm fine where I am David, though I appreciate the offer."

David frowned, "But Blaine-"

"I don't want to go outside." Blaine said cutting him off, before focusing his attention back on the tv.

"If Blaine doesn't want to go outside then don't force him." Wes said firmly though even he glanced over at Blaine in concern.

"Let's just get back to the game okay?" Blaine said quietly. "Besides you probably just wanted a break so you wouldn't have to face me defeating you."

David laughed, "In your dreams Anderson."

The subject of going outside wasn't brought up for the rest of the undeniably tense night.

"We'll see you on Wednesday, okay Blainers?" David said softly, when it was nearing sunrise that morning. He stifled a yawn as he hugged Blaine goodbye.

Even Wes looked tired, though he tried to desperately hide it. "Bye Blaine."

Blaine waved to them as they left, this time taking the front door. He really did appreciate them. He didn't think anyone else would spend the entire night awake with him, even though they had school tomorrow.

He was kind of tired too, right now was the time he'd start getting ready for bed. As he usually slept during the mornings and sometimes afternoons if he stayed up late enough.

Sighing Blaine crawled into bed and flicked on the tv. He needed to have some sort of background noise going on constantly, without it the house felt too quiet.

Struggling against sleep Blaine let his mind shut off as he watched an older episode the Simpson's. In a few hours, two, he'd have to change back and he needed all the energy he could get.

_-line break-_

David's ill-advised idea keep running through his head despite his best attempt not to think about it. He knew it was a bad idea, a horrible idea really as the last time he'd been outside, outside of the house's fences had been when he was ten and that hadn't even worked out well.

Why did he keep thinking about it then?

Some part of him, the beast part, longed for freedom, it longed for fresh cool air and pavement, to roll/run through grass that was fresh and clear-cut, to jump through leaves, to swim. It wanted the new smells and sights, the hundred things he'd never seen or barely remembered since the last time he'd been truly out seven years ago.

Another part wanted to rebel. He'd been trapped here, for nearly all his life and he was tired of being alone, of being pushed away for something he couldn't control. Something that wasn't his fault but his family's. Why should _he _be the one to hide?

Both of these things were undeniably his own feelings no matter how much he blamed the beast.

Somehow Blaine had found his answer then.

But could he really do it? He'd never done anything risky, some part of him still hoped that if he tried hard enough, if he was as good and as perfect as someone like him could be then his family would take notice of him instead of casting him to the side.

He knew it would be easy, as easy as Wes and David sneaking in. The staff, on the off chance that they thought he wasn't roaming the halls or hiding somewhere, would never tell.

It was just one night, anyway.

How much trouble could one night be?

_-line break-_

"I can do this, I can do this." Blaine chanted as he ran through a mental check-list one more time. The door to his bedroom was locked, the ladder was resting safely against the window, what was he missing? Something was missing.

Blaine patted his pockets, he had his cellphone and some cash (though the majority of his money was in credit cards) in the off case that something went wrong. Hopefully nothing would go wrong, he'd either be forced to call Wes or to call his parents. (He wasn't sure which would be worse)

"What am I missing?" Blaine said frustrated. The answer came to him as he took one last look around the room, catching sight of his reflection in the mirror.

Shit. He'd forgotten about his eyes. Blaine frowned as he gently reached up to touch them.

Gold eyes blinked back at him, standing out brightly with the rest of Blaine's tanned face.

They were the one sign leftover after he changed back Blaine knew they were really brown, they'd been blue when he was born like most other babies though they'd quickly changed to brown before settling on the gold after his first transformation. Blaine knew they were brown because if he went to a mirror within a few minutes of changing back he could see the gold taking over the brown slowly, until finally there was no sign left of their true color.

Normal people didn't have gold eyes, he knew this as much as he knew that walking out with them like this would either startle people or get him strange looks. And the key to not causing trouble was to be as un-strange as possible.

"What am I going to do?" He couldn't let his entire night be ruined by his eyes. If he couldn't do it tonight then he didn't think he'd ever gather up the courage to try this again.

Salvation came in the form of a gift from David. Pink shaded sunglasses. He'd bought them a few weeks ago, at some sidewalk sale. Wes had obnoxiously yellow ones, David had a strange shade of purple and Blaine had been graciously gifted with a bubble-gum pink set.

Blaine and Wes had sworn they would never wear theirs while David proudly wore his every single sunny day Westerville had. And now Blaine was standing his bedroom wearing them, about to go out into public wearing them.

He knew guys didn't usually wear pink sunglasses, especially at night but it was the best thing he had to cover his eyes. If this night worked out well then he might ask Annie to get him some color contacts. He'd been meaning to pick up a pair anyway, his glasses were too breakable.

"What's one more weird thing?" Blaine reasoned as he put on the glasses, not caring that it clashed horribly with his outfit.

_-line break-_

Quickly, actually a few minutes after climbing over the hedge, Blaine became aware that he had no idea what he was supposed to do. He was free but what was he supposed to do with that freedom?

It was nearing eight so he needed to find some place that would stay open for at least a few more hours but was close enough to home that he didn't need to get a cab.

The first place Blaine stopped wouldn't have surprised Wes and David at all. It was a music store, one that was only a few blocks from his house. Blaine was pretty crazy about music. Singing along to whatever was on the radio made him feel connected to the outside world in some way. And while he had his favorites Blaine just liked singing. Wes told him that if he could have gone to Dalton with them then Blaine would have definitely made it into the warblers.

Blaine kept his head down as he searched for something interesting. The shop was nearly empty save for a blonde girl near the other end and the worked at the desk but Blaine didn't want to take any chances.

He grinned seeing the new Katy Perry CD. He really didn't care if David made fun of him for his tiny Katy Perry-addiction. He liked happy songs and hers were usually pretty bouncy, something he could dance to. "Awesome."

Blaine turned to walk to the register and accidentally walked into something, sending him sprawling to the floor and the CD clattering out of his hand. "Ouch." someone groaned out from near him and Blaine looked up.

He'd crashed into a person. Just wonderful coordination there Blaine.

It was the blonde girl from the other side of the store, and she blinked at him confused and surrounded by a few CD'S.

Blaine opened his mouth to apologize the same time she asked her own question, "Are you a dolphin?"

"What?" he said confused. Oh god, he'd crashed into her too hard and had accidentally given her brain damage or something. Going outside had been a bad idea, a really bad idea. Why the hell had he listened to David of all people about something like this?

"-and he likes pink and he's a dolphin so I thought you might be a dolphin because of your glasses." The girl paused. "So are you a dolphin then?"

Blaine wordlessly shook his head too stunned to verbally answer.

"Oh." Did she sound disappointed that he wasn't an aquatic mammal?

The girl grinned at him brightly and held out her hand to help him up. "I'm Brittany."

Blaine blinked as she pulled him to his feet easily, "Blaine. I'm sorry for running into you I should have watched where I was going."

She shrugged. "It's okay, you're so tiny it didn't really hurt."

Brittany brightened, eyes widening. "Are you a hobbit, you know like from that movie Lord of the flies I think? They're short and that one had really curly hair like, Mr. Schue hair, kind of like yours though yours looks prettier."

Had he actually given her brain damage or was she just kidding? He didn't think he'd managed to give her brain damage but still. "Umm no. I'm just a person, not a hobbit or a dolphin."

Brittany nodded. "Okay then."

"I really am sorry for running into you Brittany. Maybe I can make it up to you?" Blaine struggled to think of what you were supposed to do in these kind of situations. In all the movies they got dinner or coffee. Though those movies were usually romantic-comedies and Blaine wasn't trying to pick up the blonde. "We can go get dinner if you want? My treat?"

She shrugged. "Sure, I'm dating a robot right now so if you're trying to date me then it's not gonna work. Besides it would be kind of weird dating a hobbit."

"I'm not a hobbit."

"Right." She agreed easily. "Can we go to breadstixs? San and I go there all the time and the food is really good. I want to get a kitty bag for Lord Tubbington."

Blaine grabbed his CD and hers. "Sure? Where's it at?"

Brittany shrugged. "Some street that's a number and a street with a tree name? I can never keep track, there's so many of them, you know?"

"I guess we'll just have to look and find it then." Blaine said hesitantly.

What was he doing? He was hanging out with some strange girl after running into her. Blaine didn't hang out with very many people (only two were his age) and unless you counted the staff (which he did, though David said it didn't count. Not at all Blaine) then Blaine didn't hang out with any girls.

He could do this. Couldn't he? Tonight was supposed to be an attempt at freedom and rebellion, common teenage pursuits he knew. Blaine could do this and he couldn't wait to see the look on David's face if he did decide to tell him about tonight.

"Come on Blaine let's go pay." Brittany said before grabbing his hand. Blaine jolted in surprise but then followed after her. Blaine wasn't used to physical affection aside from a few stray hugs from Wes and David, or high fives when they beat a game. He didn't think anyone had ever held his hand before, and even if it was with a stranger it was a nice feeling.

_-line break-_

After forty-five minutes of searching Blaine thought they should probably give up. They'd looked everywhere but no one had even heard of _breadstixs _much less knew where it was. Blaine thought that Brittany might have gotten the name wrong but he didn't say it.

"I guess you guys don't have a breadstixs." Brittany said disappointed.

Blaine paused. "Brittany, where exactly are you from?"

"Huh? Lima."

"Peru?" he blurted out and she laughed, smiling at him.

"No, and not like the bean either. It's a town in Ohio, It's like an hour away from here or something." Brittany grinned. "I'm visiting my aunt and I thought she'd have a breadstixs because they're awesome and I thought every city had a breadstixs."

They'd been searching for a restaurant that wasn't even in town. Somehow Blaine didn't really care, it had been fun even if his feet were tired and he'd still have to walk home in a while.

"Usually there are only multiple stores if something's a part of a franchise like McDonald's or Burger King. Breadstixs probably isn't part of a franchise."

"Oh, I'll have to tell Lord Tubbington that later."

Blaine gave her a small smile. There was something about Brittany that just seemed so …nice and fun, she kind of reminded him of David in a way though if David had sent him on a wild goose-chase for a restaurant that wasn't in town Blaine probably would have punched him or at the very least steal his horrible sunglasses and beat him mercilessly at Brawl.

"Blaine? Can we go to McDonald's? I'm really hungry now."

"Sure Brittany."

_-line break-_

"Don't tell Coach Sylvester I'm eating McDonald's or else she'll get really angry." Brittany shuddered taking some of Blaine's fries.

McDonald's was nearly empty save for a few people and paranoid Blaine convinced Brittany to sit somewhere near the back. The tall girl seemed pretty content despite her words, munching happily on some chicken nuggets while Blaine tore into his burger with a frenzy.

It wasn't the good kind of meat, he could tell right off because of the taste but it was decent and he'd been craving meat since yesterday even if it wasn't the right kind or wasn't raw enough for his suitability.

"Blaine?"

"Yeah Britt?" He said, taking a sip of his pop. He knew the food was really unhealthy, he'd suffered lectures before from Cara when someone would bring him fast food but he just really didn't care. At this point he probably would have taken down a deer if it meant food.

"Why do you keep wearing sunglasses? It's dark outside." Brittany pointed out.

Blaine froze and Brittany continued on. "You're not blind are you? Because that would really suck. Is that why your sunglasses are pink? Because you didn't know what color they were when you bought them?"

"Umm no Britt, I'm not blind. I can see fine actually." He could technically see better than average though it wasn't to the exaggerated point that most movies showcased about werewolves or people who changed like him.

"Why do you wear them then?"

Blaine hesitated. He couldn't just come out and say his secret, even he wasn't that naïve and he'd been trapped in his house for most of his life. But he would feel horrible lying to someone as nice as Brittany. What was he supposed to say? He could do a half-truth. "I have something wrong with my eyes." he said finally when she continued to stare at him with that wide-eyed curious look.

Brittany stared at him in concern, leaning closer as if she could see through his sunglasses. "What's wrong with them? I thought you said you weren't blind."

"I'm not blind, it's just my eyes are a bit freaky."

Brittany looked around and then whispered quietly, "It's okay I'm weird too. I'm really bendy, Coach Sylvester said I was double-jointed."

Blaine laughed softly though not unkindly, and smiled at her. "Promise not to freak out?"

She nodded and held out her pinky. "Pinky promise."

Reluctantly Blaine slowly pulled off his sunglasses and set them down on the table, he had his head down so he slowly looked up until he was staring directly at Britt. He blinked, trying to let his eyes get used to the sudden change in light. He should start going outside during the daylight more often or else his eyes would become even more light sensitive.

Brittany interrupted his thoughts. "Blaine are you a vampire?"

_What?_

-Chapter one end.-

Author's note: Sorry there was no Kurt in this part, originally Blaine was supposed to meet Kurt but I thought of a better meeting and I thought Brittany would add more comic relief to the story.

So…

Like it? Dislike it? Why the hell did you even write it?


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's note: **thanks to everyone who reviewed or favorite, or alerted, I'm glad this story seems to be well liked.

No specific warnings for this chapter (Aside from Brittany and David that is.)

-_line break-_

Blaine stared at her in shock and he desperately held back a startled laugh. "No Britt, I'm not a vampire."

Brittany looked slightly disappointed. "Oh, I guess that's okay then. I thought you might be because of your hair and your eyes."

He could understand the eyes but his hair? What was so wrong with his hair that it kept leading Brittany into thinking he was various mythological creatures? "My hair?" he said curiously.

"The guy from midnight? No twilight, he has hair like yours."

Blaine laughed. "Okay?" He hadn't seen the movie though Wes had complained relentlessly about it after his girlfriend _and _little sister dragged him to see it. David just wanted him to see the wolves in the second one. "Don't want to see some fuzzy cousins?" he had asked, grinning widely.

Blaine's phone beeped and he almost jumped in surprise. Before leaving the house he'd set an alarm, making sure he'd have enough time to get back home. He hadn't thought about the possibility of running into someone though. "It's getting kind of late now. Would you like to go?"

Brittany considers this and then nods. "Sure. Can I have the rest of your fries? That way I'll have something to give to Lord Tubbington."

In the end Blaine did give Britt his fries and his drink because she'd forgotten to get hers when they left. They keep walking up and down the streets of Westerville until he realizes that he has no idea where Brittany lives (he kind of doubts she has any clue either.)

"Where are you staying at?" If she lives at a hotel then Blaine's going to be late, really late because nearly all of the hotels, at least the good ones are on the other side of town.

She reaches into her pocket and pulls out a small bit of lined paper, Blaine can barely see hastily written scribbles on it. "210 South Grove Street." she reads off dutifully.

That's roughly two blocks from Blaine's house. Thank god. "I know where that is." He grins and holds out his arm, trying to be charming but probably just coming off stupid. David always says he looks hilariously stupid when he tries to be charming and dapper. "If you'll allow me to escort you."

She laughs. "Sure, now I won't get lost which means my Aunt won't get mad at me."

The walk is easily the weirdest one he's ever had and the entire time he and Brittany talk about things from cat diseases to unicorns. It might just exactly be the best day he's had in a while. Blaine thinks that under different (much _much different) _circumstances they could be friends.

But Blaine's still a beast and in this situation Britt's pretty much red-riding hood only without the various sexual connotations attached to the tale.

Still it was a good night.

Blaine drops Brittany off at her aunt's house, a red-bricked two story that he use to walk by nearly everyday, when he was younger. _Before _whatever limited freedom he had became restricted. "Want to hang out tomorrow? We have vacation till Thursday." Brittany says at the door.

He hesitates. He does like Brittany but he can't do this again. With each time he goes out the effort to keep staying in his house is just going to become harder to keep up. It would be irrational and completely irresponsible to do otherwise, to do this again.

But wasn't being irresponsible and irrational the point of this venture? He has a limited amount of time, Blaine's know that for a few years now but should all of it be spent wasting away in that house? "Sure, tomorrow at seven? We can go see a movie if you want?" There's some new kids movie about a cat in boots that just came out, he's seen commercials for it at least five times a day and Wes and David are taking Wes' sister to it.

Wes and David (At least Wes) are going to kill him if they find out about this.

Brittany smiles. "Cool." and then she walks inside and closes the door.

Surprisingly Blaine makes it home on time, climbing back into his room by twelve. Annie pokes her head into the room and finds him lying down on the bed watching tv with a bored expression.

"Your tutor brought over your homework for the next week." Blaine gets homework on Monday and then calls his tutor, Jeremiah on Thursday if he has any questions though usually he doesn't. When you can't go outside and spend half your days walking on four legs, Homework really isn't that big of an issue.

"Thanks Annie. Did _he _call yet?"

Annie frowned. "Not today, I think in a few days. That's what your mother said anyway last time we spoke."

Blaine's mother is the one who pays whichever of the staff is in charge that day. She'll give them money to last for a month and then any further contact Blaine gets through her or his father is through phone. They never call him and Blaine always has to make the first move if he wants to talk to them so he just doesn't bother.

He loves them, he really does but why should they be his priority if he barely makes the list?

He smiles at Annie. "Thank you."

Annie shook her head, smiling softly. "It's not a problem but you're welcome. Cara said the weather is supposed to be warm tomorrow and we were curious if you wanted to go outside."

Outside isn't that big. It's an average size yard with a row of hedges surrounding it that's taller than Blaine's height as both wolf and man, the hedges then loop around to the front of the house and stop at the front yard where an iron gate is. But the weather's supposed to get colder soon and he wants to enjoy as much sunshine as he can.

"That's fine." Annie leaves a bit after but not before reminding Blaine to clean up his room and get to bed early.

Blaine does spend the later part of his night cleaning up his room, still a mess from his sleepover with Wes and David. His room is prim and proper within an hour. It's almost strange how clean it looks, it doesn't even look lived in but Blaine kind of likes it that way.

As much as this is a home it's also a prison no matter how nice it looks.

The rest of the night is filled with thoughts about how excited he is tomorrow. Not only for being outside in the sun but for seeing a movie with Brittany. Blaine doesn't remember the last movie he saw and usually the only late _late _ones are horror movies so he's glad it will be something different.

Occasionally different is just the change he needs.

Cara lets him outside around eleven and the first thing he does is roll around in the grass. It's such a dog, an animal, thing to do but he doesn't care at the time. He doesn't care because it's cool against his fur and the scent of it is something new.

She laughs. "If this is your reaction then we should have sunny days more often."

He huffs at her and she leans down to scratch at his ears, he lets her because it's Cara and the smile she gives him is worth any discomfort he might be feeling.

For most of the day he just follows her around as she does her work, in and out of the house. Occasionally he gets distracted when he hears a bird or sees a squirrel, he was staring at a cat for five minutes and was ready to pounce when Simon, the butler stopped him.

"Go find Cara or better yet Annie, she'll keep you in line." he scolded, lightly nudging Blaine forward with his foot.

Blaine's mind while he's changed is different, thoughts are coherent or refined and the only reason he isn't acting more animalistic is because he's used to these people. They've practically raised him and some part of him instinctively knows that he can't hurt them even if they talk too loud or smile with their teeth.

He's not sure how'd he react with other people, with strangers and it's best not to test that theory. Not again.

_-line break-_

"Yeah San, I miss you too." Brittany called Santana for nearly every day of vacation as the Latina girl was in the Bahamas with her parents for almost all of break. Artie was gone too, his parents had taken him and his younger brother to visit their grandparents in Columbus.

Which meant that Brittany was pretty bored, just hanging out at Aunt Hannah's while her parents went on their own vacation. Aunt Hannah was nice though and she liked her cousins Tommy and Tiffany. Tiffany was a baby though and Aunt Hannah said she should probably let her sleep instead of seeing if she wanted to play with Lord Tubbington.

She was glad she'd made a new friend, Blaine was really nice even if he was secretly a hobbit-vampire in disguise.

Santana laughed quietly. "I'll be back Wednesday and then we can go to _Breadstixs_."

Brittany immediately brightened up. She still couldn't believe this town didn't have a _Breadstixs _what was with that? "Can Blaine come too?" she asked excitedly.

"Britt who's Blaine?" San asked and Brittany thought she sounded worried which was weird because Blaine was nice, kind of like…like Kurt.

"He's my new friend. He's a hobbit and he wears pink sunglasses to hide his eyes because he has vampire eyes."

Santana sighed. "Right Britt, just be careful okay? I don't want you getting kidnapped by any psychos while I'm out of the country."

"Okay." she agreed cheerfully. "But can Blaine come to _Breadstixs _with us? He's really nice and hot."

"Sure Britt, look I've got to go the spa's calling my name."

"How can a spa talk? Is it a robot spa?"

Santana sighed again, "I'll talk to you later and remember be careful. If you get kidnapped Coach Sylvester will have us doing military training courses again."

"Bye Santana."

_-line break-_

It was Annie's night off and she let him back inside, "You have four and a half minutes." she said before leaving.

He didn't know where everyone went when they had their night off. For all he knew they had actual families somewhere. Families who they only saw one night out of the week because of Blaine and his family's paranoia. He wasn't sure if his family was paranoid for his safety or for what he might do.

With them it was all kind of the same thing.

The change back was better tonight than it had been when Wes and David had been there and Blaine cursed it's timing. It seemed like the easy changes always happened when he was by himself .

He's ready by seven, hair clean and grasses stains washed away from his skin. The pink sunglasses go safely over his eyes and Blaine really hopes this is a 3D movie.

This time he chances going out the front door. Simon and Cara are both in their rooms and the rest of the staff have either gone home or are busy somewhere out of sight. It's easy, much easier than Blaine ever thought sneaking out would be.

It takes him a few minutes to run to Brittany's but he's only a few minutes late when he knocks on the door of the red house.

A tiny boy, probably around eight, with blond hair and brown eyes answers the door. "Yeah?"

"Is Brittany here?" He is uncomfortably aware of how much like a date this seems like. Blaine's never been on a date, he doesn't exactly have the options, but he's had to listen to David's horror stories about them more than once.

The kid grinned. "Why you her boyfriend?"

"No-" the kid cuts him off by yelling in the direction of the stairs. "Brittany, your boyfriend's here!"

Blaine is eternally thankful that he doesn't have a younger brother. Brittany races downstairs carrying in her arms the fattest cat he's ever seen. It also looks suspiciously similar to the cat Blaine saw earlier and he's really glad Simon stopped him.

Brittany turns to the blond boy. "Tommy, I thought you said Artie was here?"

The blond kid shrugs. "He ain't your boyfriend?"

"No." Brittany turned back to him and smiled. "Hi Blaine, this is Lord Tubbington."

The fat tabby cat meowed pitifully at him, green eyes glaring at him.

Blaine slowly edged away from the cat. "He's…cute, Britt."

Brittany's smile widened. "Thanks. Can you hold him while I grab my jacket?" Without further confirmation Brittany carefully deposited the heavy cat in his arms. She left the room with the blond kid, Tommy, following her, leaving Blaine standing awkwardly in the doorway holding a thirty pound cat.

Cats had never liked Blaine and the one time Annie had tried to get him a cat, it had clawed his arm to death and hissed at him whenever he tried to touch it. It had lasted a week before Annie gave it to one of the younger maids who had a little girl.

Blaine looked down at Lord Tubbington who thankfully wasn't hissing but his ears were back and his fur was slightly puffed. Not good. "Sorry for almost eating you." he apologized quietly. "It's not really something I can control."

The cat meowed again but he looked less angry and finally he head butted Blaine's arm.

"I think he likes you." Brittany said coming back into the room, this time followed by an older woman with brown hair.

The woman smiled at him and held out her hand. "I'm Hannah Pierce, Brittany's aunt and you must be Blaine."

Blaine shifted Lord Tubbington awkwardly to one arm and shook her hand. "Yes, it's nice to meet you." This really did remind him of a date, a weird date with angry cats but still.

-_line break-_

Watching the movie with Brittany had been strange. It was definitely a kid's movie and they were probably the only two there not with a kid or older than twelve. Brittany had been more into it than he had but slowly he started to enjoy it. Her favorite part had been the baby goose. On the way home she kept talking about how she wanted one but she didn't think Lord Tubbington would approve.

"Blaine?" It was only nine so they'd stopped off to get some ice-cream, Blaine had gotten vanilla and Brittany, well he didn't really know what Britt got, the entire thing was covered in sprinkles but he assumed there was actual ice-cream beneath.

"Yeah Britt?"

"Do you want to go to _Breadstixs _with Santana and me?"

Blaine smiled, taking a bite of his ice-cream. "The famous _Breadstixs_? Sure when?"

Brittany smiled back at him. "Wednesday, her flight gets back at three and we're going at five."

It was only November and while it had been getting darker earlier, he wouldn't start being changed back at five until early December. "I can't come at five."

She looked disappointed. "Why not?"

Blaine struggled to think of an excuse. "I have a meeting at five but if you want you can give me the address and I'll meet you there at six?" How the hell was he going to get to Lima? It took an hour and a half to get there and if he wanted to be there at six he'd have to leave while still a wolf.

He should have just said no to today, should have never left home in the first place, it just kept leading to more situations.

"That's great, I think Santana will like you." Brittany paused. "You kind of remind me of Kurt and I think she secretly likes him too."

"Who's Kurt?" She hadn't mentioned him before. She'd mentioned most of her friends in passing though Santana and Artie were definitely the most frequently, at least he guessed when she was talking about her robot-boyfriend that she meant Artie.

Brittany's smile wavered and then disappeared and she looked down at her ice-cream cone. "I don't want to talk about him." she said quietly and Blaine didn't mention Kurt at all after that.

"Thanks for taking me to the movies." Brittany said as they walked back to her house. "I know I'm not the brightest so thanks for being my friend and not minding."

Blaine frowned, "Brittany I don't see why anyone wouldn't want to hang out with you. You're great."

She laughed and patted him gently on the head before walking inside. Blaine looked at the door and shrugged, making the walk home.

He liked being outside, feeling the cold air and seeing the leaves. It was different than experiencing it from a window or a fenced in yard. Being a part of it made his world almost seem more real, less cut off.

And eventually it would have to end. He couldn't keep sneaking out, eventually someone would find out and they would care. Or maybe his parents would find out or Blaine wouldn't be there to take _his _phone call. This entire thing was stupid and dangerous and so unlike him.

Why did he keep doing it then?

-_line break-_

"I need a favor." It hadn't _entirely _slipped his mind that Wes and David were supposed to come back on Wednesday. Blaine realized that his friends might actually be able to help him even if he did have to suffer through a Wesley-lecture.

"What do you want Blainers?" Wes and David's face stared at him from the computer screen and he thanked whoever had invented webcams and skype.

Blaine hesitated and then answered. "For the past couple days I've been sneaking out-"

"I knew it!" David excitedly turned to Wes. "Didn't I tell you he'd try it? But you said he was too mature, well ha!"

"Were you guys betting on me again?" Blaine asked irritated.

David waved it off. "Just a tiny one, only five dollars this time."

Blaine sighed. "Can we just get back to the issue please? I promise that you can lecture me and exclaim 'I told you so' respectively all you want later."

"What is the issue here?"

"Like I said, I've been going out the past couple of nights and I've met someone. Her name's Brittany and she's here on vacation-"

He was cut off by the sound of David whistling. " You met a girl? Nice job Anderson!"

"David shut up." he looked over at Wes. "Make him stop interrupting or he won't get any food next time he comes over."

"David, shut up." Wes instructed. "Go on Blaine."

"Brittany is just a friend. Friend, okay? But anyway she wants me to meet up with her and another friend tomorrow and it wouldn't be an issue but it's like an hour out of town and if I want to be there on time then I need a ride." Blaine finished.

"And you need one of us to drive you?" Wes summarized correctly.

Blaine grinned sheepishly at him. "Pretty much yeah. Please?"

Wes considered this and then nodded, hiding a smirk. "David can take you."

David grinned. "We're gonna have a lot to talk about, Blainers."

Oh god, an hour and a half in a small space with David "Never shut the hell up" Connor. He really hoped this was worth it. It was worth it, right? It would likely be the last time he ever saw Brittany again.

"Thanks David." He glared at Wes who just shrugged.

"I'd take you but I have a test tomorrow in Government and I can't afford to get it."

"You just want me to suffer." Blaine accused.

"Maybe."

-_line break-_

"Blaine, get in the damn car before someone sees you." David hissed out, trying to push the wolf forward.

Blaine growled at him and David rolled his eyes. "That would scare me if I was like twelve. At eighteen, not so much."

David looked around. The streets were mostly empty and they were somewhat away from the Anderson property but if Blaine didn't hurry his furry ass into the car then it wouldn't be that hard to get caught. "Look are you nervous about the car? Because this is really a conversation we should have yesterday."

Blaine glanced at David's open backseat door and walked around until he was at the passenger door. David frowned, staring at him in confuse. "Wait? You want to sit shotgun?"

Blaine nodded and he laughed. "Goddamn it Blaine sometimes you're such a bitch."

The wolf barked at him and hopped into the passenger's seat. David just rolled his eyes and got into the car. "Don't suppose you want me to buckle you up too?" he said sarcastically.

This was going to be a freaking long drive.

David sighed and started up the car. "Two rules Anderson and I expect you to follow this to the best of your little wolfy-capabilities." He waited for Blaine's attention to focus on him before continuing. "One, you will not throw up in my car. I don't care how sick you feel this car is my freakin' baby. You have to throw up, you bark twice and I'll stop and unroll the window or something. Got it?"

Blaine barked in agreement and David thought he was trying to roll his eyes, which looked hysterical on a dog. "Good. And two. You are not allowed to Howl along to any top 40. I don't care how good you sound as a person, you suck as a dog and that's final."

"And now that that's all settled, let's drive." David said pleasantly.

_-line break-_

"You sure this is the place?" David asked pulling into the parking lot.

Blaine sat up, stretching and waiting until he heard the bones crack into place with a loud snap that made David wince. "I think so, it's the address Britt gave me."

_Note to self. Don't ever change in a car again, ever. It hurts like hell and David complains that you almost hit him while driving for fifteen minutes afterwards. _

_Other note to self, kill Wes._

"So what am I suppose to do anyway, while you're on your not-date?"

"I don't have a clue honestly but I'm sure you'll either find something to do or some pretty girl to torture." Blaine said cheerfully.

David frowned at him as the boy headed towards the restaurant. Psh, Blaine was totally off base any girl would be happy to hang out with him. "Any girl would be happy to be with me!" He yelled out the window.

"Only if they're being held hostage." Blaine shouted back before disappearing inside the restaurant.

Well Damn.

_-line break-_

"Britt where is this guy anyway?" Santana Lopez was not pleased. She was jetlagged from the flight but she hadn't seen Britt in a week and she'd never admit it but she'd missed the blonde.

Still she didn't mind waiting for Brittany even if she bitched about it but some random kid? Not even close.

Brittany was probably just trying to fill in the gap since she missed Hummel so freaking much. But clearly her girl needed better taste then some moron who couldn't even tell time.

"Blaine said he'd be here at six, he said he had a meeting." Brittany said, taking a bite out of some breadsticks.

Santana rolled her eyes. "Right."

Damn it she wouldn't have to be dealing with this if Hummel hadn't 'disappeared'. If he'd just stayed here then she'd have someone to watch Britt and they could have been at her house doing _better _things. Or better yet if Artie had stayed in town, then he could actually be useful for once and watch her.

"There he is!" Brittany said waving at someone.

Santana followed her wave and frowned. The kid she was waving at was really fucking short, Britt's hobbit description definitely fit. His hair was a curly mess that reminded her of Mr. Schue and made her skin crawl. His outfit reminded her of something Artie would wear and _that _made her want to glare. The weirdest thing had to be his sunglasses, they weren't pink like Britt said but who wore sunglasses in November at six at night?

God, where had Brittany picked this loser up at?

"Sorry for being late." he said sheepishly, sliding into the spot right next to Brittany. Santana wasn't sure if that was worse or not then him sitting next to her.

Brittany smiled at him, "It's okay Blaine. How'd your meeting go?"

Santana rolled her eyes as Blair chattered on. Sometimes Britt was way too trusting.

"-and this is Santana." Brittany and the Hobbit were both looking at her expectantly and she sighed.

"Nice to meet you Blair."

Blair looked confused, "It's Blaine actually."

_Whatever, Blair, Blaine it's all pretty much the same thing. _"So Blaine, what's up with the sunglasses?" She asked taking a sip of her drink. "Because I know you can't pull off the badass look to go with them."

Brittany frowned at her, "I told you earlier San, Blaine has vampire eyes and he has to hide them."

Blaine looked between them. "I have an eye condition." he said quietly, tapping his hands against the table nervously.

Her eyes narrowed. _liar. _"Really? My dad's a doctor so maybe he could recommend a specialist for your 'vampire eyes.'" Her dad was actually a plastic surgeon but whatever it was all the same thing.

He looked uncomfortable and she hid a smirk. "It's actually not treatable so I'm not sure how helpful an ophthalmologist would be in my case."

"What's that?" Britt asked.

"It's an eye doctor Britt." Santana said to her. "Are you sure? I'm sure it wouldn't hurt."

She was just picking on him but it was either him or the waiter with the bad breath and there was only so many things she could say when he brought him their food. With Blair here however the possibilities were endless.

"Blaine just show her your eyes. They're really pretty." Brittany encouraged, smiling widely at Blaine.

Blaine sighed, "I guess it couldn't hurt." slowly, almost dramatically in Santana's opinion he pulled off his lame-ass sunglasses.

_Holy fucking shit, wait till Coach Sylvester sees this. _

-Chapter two end-

**Author's note: **still no Kurt but he was at least mentioned. Also it's still pretty light-hearted but it'll slowly, if it all follows my outline, get darker. Who knows.

So thoughts?


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's note: **It took two times to write this chapter, thanks to it not saving but at least I got to listen to some good music while re-writing it. Anyway thank you for all the kind reviews and I hope everyone likes it.

Enjoy

-_line break-_

What were the freakin' chances that Britt had landed one without even trying, after they'd been searching for the past few _months_? It was just so insane and so fucking typical of Brittany that she kind of wanted to laugh.

Except this wasn't a laughing situation, kind of the reverse and she had to play this cool because either Britt had become a better actress or she had no idea what her boy Blair was. Just because rich-boy looked nice and calm and human didn't mean he was.

She smiled at him, fake and perfect. "I guess you were right, I don't think my dad will be able to help you after all."

Blaine shrugged and smiled pleasantly back at her. "I guess not."

He started talking to Brittany again and she took the opportunity to stare at him. He'd put on his sunglasses again but she could still make out the bright flash of gold beneath them, the one sign she could see that he was clearly not human. She didn't understand how he was out at night, but she wasn't going to question a gift horse in its fucking fanged mouth.

_I still can't believe this, Coach is gonna flip. Her. Shit. _They had to be careful about this, especially Brittany. She'd been hanging out with it for the past couple days and hadn't even realized what it was. Hopefully Sylvester would be distracted by the fact that they'd actually caught one and ignore Britt altogether.

How was she supposed to even get it out of here? She couldn't just smile real nice and ask him to pretty please come with her and meet her cheerleading coach. Hmm…maybe Britt could. Britt had that fucking innocent look about her and she bet rich-boy would fall for it with ease.

"So Blair, you don't go to McKinley do you?" She asked trying to distract herself. She'd figure out something, she always did. Santana had always worked out well under pressure.

Blaine looked startled for a minute but quickly his features settled and he looked more relaxed though she had no doubt he was on edge. He probably didn't even know why. "I go to Dalton; it's a boarding school in Westerville." He explained quietly and she might have believed him if he wasn't flat out lying.

It wasn't his eyes that gave it away or his small hesitant smile, it was the way he tapped his hands against the table—quietly, almost nervously.

You didn't make cheerleader afterall without finding out people's weaknesses, and when you found them you used them as far as you could before ripping them to shreds. "Really? What's it like there? Don't you miss your parents?" She asked sweetly and Brittany glanced over at her, wary. She could read the look in her eyes _be nice San, please be nice to this boy who does not matter but who I want to be my friend. Be nice, for me?_

It's the look that gets her every time. She ignores Brittany and focuses on Blaine whose tapping has increased, a steady _tap tap tap _rhythm against the table. "Sorry, you don't have to answer if it's too personal." She ruins the apologetic affect by smirking, she can't help it. She doesn't like weak people and she doesn't give a damn about people who are too fucking sensitive.

Blaine surprises her by standing his ground. He keeps his head straight, shaded yellow eyes staring right at her and very slowly he answers and it's almost like he's a different person. "It's fine really, my parents and I aren't very close, so no I don't miss them often." He pauses. "Not that it's any of your business at all."

Touché. She opens her mouth to speak but Blaine stands up from the table. "Blaine, where are you going?" Brittany asks looking back over at her with disapproval.

He smiles at Britt and it's a real honest smile, none of his little half smiles or hesitant confused looks and she hates it because it's directed at Brittany and she so should not be focusing on this, not right now. "I'm just going to the bathroom, I'll be right back."

Brittany is still smiling until Blaine disappears around the corner and then she looks pissed off. "San, what are you doing? You said you'd be nice to him."

She doesn't have time to explain all of this to the blonde. Whatever happens has to happen tonight and she just doesn't have time to give an in-depth explanation. Instead she smiles at the blonde and goes for the sore spot. "Brittany sweetie, I'm being mean for a reason. I'm being mean for Hummel's sake."

Sucker-punch and she's almost as miserable as Brittany looks. But she just can't do everything right now and it'll be worse if Blaine gets away. "What do you mean?" Brittany asks in a small painfully quiet voice, looking down at the table and away from her. "What does this have to do with Kurt?"

_Everything, maybe. It all depends on the hobbit. _"I can't explain now, he's going to be back but you have to understand everything I'm doing is for a good reason."

Brittany looks at her, seriously looks at her and it's like it pierces her soul and she can't move away, she can't look away not when someone's staring at her like that, not when Brittany is staring at her like that. "Okay." She agrees finally, in that same pained tone. "If it's for Kurt then okay."

Santana smiles and starts digging in her purse. "Tell me when you see the hobbit coming back." She says grabbing some of her sleeping pills—well they're not actually hers but her dads. Either way it'll get the job done. She glances around and then drops three of them into Blaine's drink. It'll take a while but it should be enough to drop him. Thank god he's not that big or else she'd have to get like horse tranquilizers or some shit like that.

"He's coming back." Brittany says and she can just tell that the girl is angry, that even if she's doing all of this shit to get Hummel back the blonde is still angry. Whatever.

By the time Blaine slides back into the booth the rest of her sleeping pills are back in her purse and the waiter with the bad breath has brought them their food. Santana takes a bite out of her salad and waits.

It's kind of funny to watch him get tired. He looks like he's ready to pass out by the time they get the check and Brittany looks over at her as Blaine starts to half-doze off. "What do we now?" She asks curtly, arms crossed.

Santana looks over at Blaine and thinks that if they work together they can probably get her dead weight into the back seat. "Let's get him to my car and we'll take it from there."

Brittany pauses and glances around quickly as she gently pulls Blaine to his feet. She leans in and speaks lowly. "San, you're not planning on like killing him for his eyes or something right? Because they are pretty eyes but you don't have to kill him for it."

"No Britt, I'm not planning on killing him for his freaky-ass eyes." She says patiently as she smirks goodbye at the bad-breath waiter. He's probably miffed because she gave him like a dollar for a tip.

"What about because of his hair? Because it's bad but he's still a really nice person—"

Santana rolls her eyes and cuts her off with a quiet hiss. "Brittany, we are not killing him. He will be perfectly fine. I promise I will do nothing to him." _Can't say the same thing for Coach Sylvester. _

"Fine." Brittany manages to handle most of Blaine's weight, not that the hobbit has all that much and Blaine is gently stuffed into the backseat. "What now?" She says sitting in shotgun and playing with the radio. She still won't look directly at Santana and it's kind of starting to piss her off now even if she gets it.

There's just some stuff that Britt can't understand; like the fact that she's doing all of this for her. Not for Hummel, or the glee club, or Coach Sylvester. For her.

She shrugs and pauses, a thought occurring to her. Fuck, she doesn't even know where Coach Sylvester lives. Does she even have a home or does she just live in her office permanently? The school's pretty much her best shot right now. "Hate to say this Britt but it looks like we're going back to school."

Brittany looks disappointed. "But we still have a few more days of break." And then she adds. "And it's dark outside."

Santana rolls her eyes and starts to drive. "Just make sure the Hobbit stays asleep and I'll take care of the rest."

_-line break-_

"_How come I can't live with you and Daddy?" He's young maybe seven or eight and the final straw that breaks his parent's dam isn't for another two years or so. At this point he's still trying to get their attention, to get them to love him and he just wants to tell him it's useless, to give up now. _

_His mom smiles at him and he can see the difference between hers and his father's, between the rest of the Family. It's an actual smile, with emotion and warmth and he relaxes a little bit. She leans forward and brushes his hair out of his face. "Blaine you know why you can't live with us."_

_Blaine frowns, glancing out at the dark sky. "Because I'm a monster." He declares firmly. _

"_Oh honey, you're not a monster. You're just _special."

_Blaine shakes his head. Even at seven he knows the difference between being special and being different. Special was what you told your kids when you didn't want to tell them they were really monsters. "No I'm not. Special is something good, I'm not something good and if I was then I wouldn't have to live here, by myself!"_

_His mother grabbed his shoulders lightly and waited until he would look at her. In a serious tone she said, "Blaine Anderson you are not and never will be a monster. Do you understand me?"_

_Blaine nodded very slowly even though he knew the truth. He would never be normal, he would never be like his cousins or his younger brother and he would always be a monster to them and the rest of the Family. _

_She smiled back at him, becoming calmer and she leaned forward to kiss his temple. "Goodnight honey, try to get some sleep." She stood and started for the door. "I'll have Cara come check on you in an hour or so, okay?"_

"_Okay." He said quietly, as she closed the door and the room was completely dark save for the moonlight. He knew the truth and she knew it too even if she didn't, couldn't want to admit it. If it wasn't the truth then why did she only visit him at night? Why did his father only visit him every once in a while? And why had he never even met his younger brother?_

_He was still a monster, with fangs and claws, with weird eyes and a weird nose; just a scary monster and not a little boy. _

_Blaine pulled the blankets over his head and closed his eyes, trying to futilely go to sleep. _

"Santana, he keeps muttering things in his sleep. I think he's sleep-talking."

"Don't wake him up yet Britt, we're still not at the school. Just keep watching it."

Santana pulled into the completely empty and dark McKinley High parking lot. Despite not seeing a car she wasn't that concerned. For all she knew Coach fucking flew to school purely on the powers of misery and rage.

"Watch it, while I go get Coach Sylvester." Brittany was staring at her again, eyes wide with concern and suspicion. "Relax, Britt. I said he'd be okay and he will."

Brittany looked towards the back seat, staring down at Blaine. "Fine, just hurry. I don't want to be out here forever." She said bluntly.

Santana tried to ignore that, because despite whatever Brittany thought this still wasn't her fault. She was doing what she always did; fix whatever mistake Brittany had made. If she didn't do this then she didn't even know what Coach Sylvester would do to Brittany.

"Just stay here and don't move." She snapped out, walking towards the school in long strides.

The doors aren't locked which isn't that surprising since she doubts there's anything worth stealing at this place. The hallway lights are all off but she keeps walking until Coach Sylvester's office comes into view. She smirks when she can make out the bit of light beneath the door.

At least _she_ hasn't messed this up.

She knocks on the door impatiently and waits.

This entire thing is so fucking stupid and she still doesn't know why she's doing it. Let Hudson or Berry worry about fairy-boy, she's got her own problems. No, she knows why, it's the same fucking reason she does everything else.

Brittany.

She needs to go visit the fucking Wizard of Oz and ask for a spine because this is pathetic.

Without warning the door swings up and the looming face of Sue Sylvester—the only woman, the only person she's ever feared—greets her. "I assume you're here for a good reason Lopez and not to fill the air near my office with the stink of your everlasting hairspray that's used to keep that thing you describe as hair from breaking into pieces."

Santana bits back her tongue. Fucking keep silent. "Coach we found one." She says simply, directly.

Coach Sylvester quirks any eyebrow and she can read the disbelief in it, for all the faith she has in her cheerios, concerning some matter they have screwed up a fucking lot.

"I'm not wrong." She bites out. "And I brought him here as soon as I confirmed it."

"Did you?" She says in a conversational tone. "Let's see this beast then."

Santana frowns and heads back toward the parking lot. The shit she fucking does for Brittany is amazing beyond human comprehension sometimes.

Brittany isn't in the front seat anymore but in the back with Blaine. She's sitting right next to him, with her head bent down low and speaking quietly to him. "Blaine, wake up please. Come on Blaine, wake up."

"Brittany?" Brittany's head darts up and she just stares at her. "Britt, we have to bring him inside, to Coach Sylvester."

She's still staring at her, blue eyes blank and angry because Blaine is her friend and even she knows that if Coach Sylvester is involved then it can't end up good, not for Blaine. She looks away suddenly and then very gently, picks Blaine up. She's starts walking to the school without saying a single word and Santana can only follow after her.

Like she always does.

"I know you don't get why we had to bring him here but I can't explain it right now. You just have to trust me Britt."

Brittany still doesn't say anything and instead walks even faster and before Santana knows it they're right back at Coach Sylvester's office. Santana pounds on the door this time, half-heartedly trying to break the wood.

The door opens and she pushes Brittany and Blaine forward, "Here's your fucking proof." She snarls out, irritated at Brittany and Blair, at Coach and pretty much this entire fucking thing.

Brittany stumbles from the push though she manages to catch herself but Blaine falls to the floor, landing hard with a grunt of pain. Slowly he pushes himself up, still half asleep but coming aware. "What happened?" he muttered rubbing at his head, pulling his hand away to find small specs of blood on it. He looks around confused, eyes landing on first Brittany and then Santana.

"Blaine, are you okay?" Brittany asks panicked, crouching down next to him.

He doesn't know where he is and that is the thought that scares him more than anything else. He's somewhere unknown and he doesn't know why or how. He doesn't understand any of this and he just wants to go back home already. He shouldn't have left; he should have brought David in with him. What's going on?

"No, maybe? Brittany what happened? Where am I?" he gasps out frantically, struggling to his feet.

"You're at McKinley High school currently and I think you should be more worried about what is going to happen then what already has." A cool voice breaks into his thoughts and he stops, glancing up at a tall thin blonde woman. She's stern looking with crossed arms and an unreadable look on her face and she nods her head toward Santana.

"Can't believe I'm saying this but nice job blow-up Barbie, you were right." She walks back into the office, without looking back at any of them.

Santana looks back at Brittany and just shrugs, following after her.

Brittany helps him to his feet, hand holding onto his arm as if to keep him from running away. "I'm so sorry Blaine." She whispers quietly, leading him forward.

"Brittany, what's going on?" He doesn't remember any of this. He doesn't remember much beyond feeling tired, more tired than he's felt in what seems like forever.

Brittany doesn't answer him. "I just wanted Kurt back."

"Your friend? What happened to your friend?" What's happening to me?

"Blaine, I'm so sorry." She says again and then pulls him lightly until they are both in the office, from behind them the door slams close and Blaine still has no idea what is going on or what he's meant to do.

All he can focus on is Brittany's quiet whispered mantra of sorry as he finds himself face to face with the blonde woman.

-Chapter end-

Author's note: sorry to end it there but if I'd continued it probably would have run into twenty pages long roughly. Anyway I hope everyone liked it and if you have any questions feel free to ask. Should be updated again over break which starts next week.


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's note: And here's part two of chapter three. **I was going to work on "Snarled" but this story is infecting my thoughts because I really really want to get it moving towards the action and I want to get Kurt involved but that's so far away and oh geeze.

Oh well, more madness for me equals more updates for you guys.

Thanks to everyone who reviewed I appreciate it greatly.

-line break-

When Blaine was younger he used to visit his grandfather every Sunday. As far back as Blaine can remember he's never met his grandmother and no one in the Family talks about her; which meant that it was just Blaine and his grandfather sitting in his study as his grandfather talked or rather lectured him about his family history and Blaine's part in it while his father waited outside.

Sitting in Sue Sylvester, Cheer leading Coach's office he has the same feeling as he did back then. A nervous kind of feeling, where if he was allowed to and he never was because _Andersons do not show outward signs of weakness, Blaine_, he would be tapping his hands, fidgeting, glancing around nervously while waiting for his grandfather to strike. It makes him nauseous just thinking about it and he tries to focus on Sue who's just staring at him with an intent look but it just causes the same nervous-nauseous feeling.

He can't move, he can't leave. She'd caught him scouting out the doors and windows and had told him that they were all locked and she had the only key. She'd also had Santana take his phone and it was lying on the desk, every buzz causing him to jump and glance at it hopefully. It was clear Blaine wouldn't be leaving until she'd said whatever she'd wanted to say.

Blaine wants to look away for two reasons; one because of the nervous feeling and two because somewhere between the restaurant and being in her office he's lost his sunglasses and he feels painfully vulnerable without them on. _Andersons are not Vulnerable Blaine, not even you. _

He hates feeling like this.

"What do you want from me?" He demands quietly, voice too loud in the small room. Santana and Brittany who have been standing against the wall haven't spoken a single word since stepping foot in here.

"Quiet." She barks out and Blaine frowns at her. "Half-pint, I was pondering the possibility of you being related to William Schuester based on your hair, size, and apparent fearless personality though you seem to lack the never ending amount of peppiness and hair-gel."

_Andersons don't get pushed around Blaine, not even you._

"You don't scare me." _You are such a fucking liar. _"You're a woman who likes using intimidation and fear to prey on people and get them to do what you want. You like playing mind games with people because it helps void the loneliness in your own existence and makes you feel superior when you win and furious when you don't."

Blaine smirks at her, angry and hurt with his head still throbbing and he just wants to go home. "I'm not going to ask if I got any of that right, just how much?" He looks back at Brittany and Santana and then at Sue who despite his demeanor is a woman who scares the ever-living shit out of him.

"Just tell me what you want so I can say no and go home." He says tired and anxious. They've been here for two hours or so and in less than four hours he'll be a wolf.

Sue smirks. "I'm afraid you can't say no, not right now. Santana, Brittany you can leave if you want but Blaine is going to stay here for just a little bit longer."

Santana starts to move but stops when she realizes Brittany isn't following her. "Brittany come on." She hisses out looking back over at the still Sue and Blaine.

Brittany shakes her head, "I'm staying with Blaine." She levels a look at Santana and like all other she can read it _you got him into this mess, you brought him here but I can't leave him alone. I pick him. _

Blaine looks up at the sound of his name and shakes his head. "Britt you don't have to do that." He says, like he fucking knows her girl, like he's anything more than a beast in rich clothing.

That is what Santana sees in her fury but on the inside Blaine is freaking out, he is tired and frightened and the fact that Brittany is willing to stay here with him helps calm down some of his worries.

"I'm staying." She says firmly, clearly and as if to prove her point she walks over and stands right next to Blaine, right across from Sue fucking Sylvester herself.

Santana rolls her eyes and leans back against the wall. Fuck this shit.

A little bit turns out to be almost the four hours of before Blaine's change. With less than five minutes to spare Sue speaks again, the first time since her refusal of Blaine to leave four hours ago. "You can go now Blaine." She says, and he swears she's still smirking as he bolts out the door, barely managing to grab his phone in his hurry. He wakes up Santana who's been sleeping against the wall; Brittany is still asleep leaning against the desk.

"That's it? You've been staring at him for six hours and you're just letting him go? Why?" He hears her say incredulously but Blaine runs too fast to hear Sylvester's reply.

He has to get out of here, he has to find somewhere safe but safe is in Westerville, miles and miles away. Still running Blaine turns his phone back on, he needs help, he needs help.

_Ten new messages and thirteen missed calls. _They're probably all David or Wes if David had clued him in and knowing him he probably did. Blaine hits a button and waits impatiently as his phone calls his last missed call, David.

"Blaine, where the hell are you? I came back at nine to pick you up and the waiter said you hadn't been feeling well and your two friends had escorted you out. What the hell man? Why didn't you call—"

"David." He rushes, as the time on his phone gets closer and closer. "David I need help. I don't know what's going on. This woman she….took me I guess and she kept me here and I don't know what I'm supposed to do. I'm supposed to change in roughly three minutes and I'm stuck at some high school."

"Oh god, fuck I don't know. Let me put Wes on the phone he'll know what to do." Blaine glances around nervously as he listens impatiently to the sound of fumbling.

"Blaine." Wes doesn't sound nervous but Blaine has never heard him sound nervous or anything less than calm in his entire life, not unless it's involving his glee club. "Where are you at? David and I will come get you and I promise we'll work this out."

Blaine can feel it starting, the rush of heat, and the pinpricks on his skin. He leans against a locker, panting heavily because it's really starting and he's really fucking messed up this time. "Blaine!" Wes snaps and he tries to focus.

"It's…" Blaine bits down on his lip to stop screaming as he finally lets himself fall to the floor. "It's oh fuck it hurts, its McKinley High school. Please hurry." With his last clearly coherent thought Blaine ends the call before his friends can hear him.

He curls inward on himself, hands pressed against the tiled floor as his bones start to snap. _This is the worst of it, this is the worst of it, this is the worst of it_ he chants, still biting at his lip until the metallic taste greets him.

He screams and halfway through it because a higher sort of sound, something a human throat couldn't possibly possess the ability to do. For a moment, one single moment of clarity, he can hear everything so much better even as his vision gets blurry, he can hear his very blood heating up in his veins, he can hear his bones snapping and moving. He can hear everything trying to move and make room and adjust because if it doesn't then it'll kill him. Then his hearing fades and he is left with nothing as the world stops and the pain overrides it.

The ache in his chest grows greater, burning hotter than anything else and Blaine screams as finally, finally it stops.

When he changes for the most part Blaine retains his humanity. Yes his baser instincts are stronger and things are limited but for the most part he is always aware on some level. But today he is alone, he is alone and scared and lost in a place that he's never been. He has no one he knows nearby and the beast is left to himself for what might be the first time.

"Oh my god." A voice says quietly but to the wolf it's the same thing as someone yelling right next to him. He looks up from his exploration of the dark hallway and finds himself staring at a girl.

Her hair is bright, and she is tall. She looks familiar but he can't remember if he's seen her before, if he knows her, if he cares about her or hates her and he is on edge, growling, hackles raised.

"I'd stay away from him goldilocks unless you want your face mauled off; at this stage he's stressed and violent." A different lower voice says and he growls even louder, stepping forward a bit.

Behind the bright girl two others have come forward. One has very dark hair and a look that might be fear on her face, yes it's fear, he can smell it on her, it's covering her. The other one isn't a girl, but a woman, also with bright hair and a look on her face that he wants to bite off.

The girl with the dark hair is talking to her angrily, voice rising to an almost hysterical level. "Why did you keep him here? Why is he like this, it's daytime. What was the entire point of this?"

"Lopez unless you'd like him to attack you I suggest you shut up. I wasn't going to take a pair of flashy eyes as my only proof and this just confirms It." the taller woman looks right at him and he stops growling, but he's still ready to attack.

"Anderson, I know that somewhere inside your wolfy brain you can understand me somewhat, unless you're farther gone then your appearance belies. If you can stop thinking like an animal for even a small microscopic second then head back to my office and I'll finally tell you what I want."

And without another word she walked back towards her office, the other two following her without a moment's hesitation though the bright girl kept glancing back at him, eyes still wide.

_Listen to her, just listen to her and then find somewhere safe. _Some small part of Blaine the human pushes forward against the madness of the wolf and he slowly slinks toward the office, confused and scared.

Sylvester is sitting behind her desk and Santana and Brittany are pressed up on the wall behind her. The wolf looks at the chair across from Sue's and sits right next to it, staring at her with narrowed luminous eyes.

Santana blinked at him and Brittany glanced quickly over at him and looked away, the wolf can still smell the mix of curiosity and fear on them. Sylvester is unfazed, staring at him the same way she had when he was Blaine.

He looks at her only once more and she begins speaking, "I don't know if you were born like this, or if you were bit, if you were cursed or if a radioactive spider bit you one day, all I know is that your kind are different. You're not human."

Blaine would have been curious at first on how she and apparently Santana and Brittany knew so much about him (_about his kind? He had a kind?) _And then he would have protested he would have been horrified about being called not human so openly, so bluntly.

The wolf did nothing; it did not question its humanity or lack of. That kind of thought was far too complicated in its current unreadable state of instincts and lesser emotions.

The woman continued. "You're not the first of your kind that I've met. Three months ago one of my student's and a classmate of Santana and Brittany's was taken by one of your kind. They've both been missing since, without a single trace."

She leaned forward over the desk, until she was very very close. In a very low voice and without showing any of her teeth she spoke once more. "All I want from you Blaine Anderson is one simple request, something I'm sure even someone as obviously naïve and unintelligent as yourself can handle, I want you to bring them both back."

The wolf blinked and then its ears twitched in recognition of a familiar sound. Sue sighed, "Santana Brittany, go greet his friends and relieve them of the fact that we have not _yet_ skinned him of his fur."

Santana did not look at the wolf as she left, nearly running out of the room. After a moment Brittany followed her, walking at a much slower pace.

"Let me be honest with you Blaine. I don't care about these students, not really." Sylvester said beckoning him closer. "I'm currently in a very important race for an election as congresswoman which I doubt you even remember what that is. Having two missing students is not reflecting well on my campaign, is it? No and so I think it'll be _beneficial _to the both of us if you help me."

The wolf cocked its head at her, yellow eyes suddenly looking more aware and almost human. "And now you may be wondering, or you may be thinking about a particularly meaty squirrel you saw on your way here, I won't pretend to know, how is this beneficial for you? Well I happen to know for a fact that your time is limited."

The wolf froze, even like this it knew what those words meant. It knew the truth in them. "It's easy to see. Your self-control is advanced, you can ignore your baser instincts in human form and I bet the transformations don't bother you as much as they used to. It seems like things are finally settling for you and maybe you want that to be true, secretly you hope that's true but we both know it's not. You know you're dying and I bet you know it's soon."

The wolf growled and it echoed around the room, but there was no bite behind it. No force of any kind because she wasn't lying. It was painfully, humanely aware of the fact that she wasn't lying. "How much time is the question? A year, maybe two tops and then you're as dead as the rest of them. And despite whatever stoic front you put on you don't want to die. So here is why it's beneficial for you, you do this one favor for me and I'll help you live longer. I can't stop your curse, whatever that is, whatever the hell is wrong with you and clearly something aside from your disaster that you call hair, that's out of my hands but I can get you more time and that's what you really want."

The wolf stepped forward and then paused, hearing the sound of footsteps coming down the hallway. Two of them were hurried and two were dragging behind. Out of the four scents only two of them screamed _familiar and safe—pack, you're safe now. _

Sylvester stood up and held out a small white square. "This has my number, you have until midnight Friday to make a decision which despite your smaller primitive food-centered brain shouldn't be that hard to make. Live or die?"

The wolf growled and snapped forward, snagging the card out of her and barely, just barely brushing the skin of her arm. It didn't look at her as Wes and David surged forward into the room; the smell of worry and panic and fear surrounding them in a heady mix.

"Damn it Blaine, you ever do anything that stupid again and I'll shave you bald and paint rainbows on your skin." David said, crouching to his knees and beckoning the wolf towards him.

"I think he's being serious though it's hard to tell at this point." Wes looked at him, much more calm than David but the wolf could smell his relief and he huffed out a sound in confirmation.

Wes looked coldly back at Sue and the cheerios. He was no longer Wes, the friend who played video games and loved chocolate with an obsession, the Wes who loathed math and hated country music with a passion, this was Wes the head of the warblers, Wes the calm-collected one in charge. This was Wesley Montgomery after his friend had been hurt and it was not someone you wanted to deal with.

"If you or your clearly insane little minions ever come near Blaine again you will not only be charged with kidnapping of a minor you will also mysteriously go missing after the trial ends and you've served jail time, you will go missing to the extent that it'll take a bloodhound with his nose." Wes jerked his head towards Blaine. "To find even a single strand of your dyed-job hair. Clear? Good."

"C'mon Blaine." David said quietly as he followed Wes out of the room.

The wolf looked at all of them from the still with fury Sue, to the shocked Santana and to Brittany who he couldn't read. All he could smell from her was regret, sharp and bitter. It stung at his nose and he quickly sprinted out of the room, clinging to the warm and safe smell of his friends.

-line break-

"We need to get you a button or something that you can push when you're in trouble." David said half way through the car-ride home. Blaine was sitting, stretched out along the back sleep—half-dozing, half-awake while Wes drove.

"Be reasonable David how would he push the button? With his nose?"

"It's a legitimate idea." David sniffed at him disdainfully. "And one that he desperately needs, right Blainers?"

Blaine let out a tiny yip. He was better now, away from the school and the people he didn't know, the people the wolf had distrusted. In the car with just Wes and David he was slowly becoming more human. And both the wolf and the man just wanted to sleep. They were exhausted, beyond that and now it was safe to do so.

"Do you think he's going to be okay?" David asked quietly, after he'd made sure that Blainers was finally asleep.

We shrugged. "Honestly I don't know. Probably. But I don't think he'll feel like going out anytime soon." He tried not to focus on it too seriously—Blaine was fine, they'd managed to get him away (Only because she'd let them) and he'd be fine. But he knew Blaine. He knew that Blaine was trusting to a fault and Brittany had betrayed it by bringing him there. And if he was honest then he was worried about what would happen to Blaine. All three of them knew he was a wolf that much was clear. But there was nothing stopping them from telling anyone else. There was nothing left they could do to protect Blaine and it made him angry, so angry that his thoughts kept getting jumbled and rushed together as he tried to think of what to do. What could they do?

No one would protect Blaine if they didn't. They'd never bothered to look beyond the beast and see him.

David seemed to share similar sentiments. "Stop thinking so loud Wesley, we'll figure something out."

"The depth of your faith is astounding." He said wryly though he was smiling.

They'd figure something out.

-line break-

"Blainers? Hey Blainers wake up." A familiar sing-song voice said, very close to his ear and Blaine let out a growl that would have been impressive if he was still the wolf.

Slowly he opened his eyes not amused in the slightest to see David less than an inch away. "I hate you." He groaned, feeling a headache coming on.

David reeled back as if wounded, eyes wide with fake hurt. "Blainers how can you say that? After Wes and me, it was mostly me, bravely came and rescued you. You were a freakin' damsel in distress and everything."

Blaine sat up, gently brushing at his head. Fortunately he wasn't bleeding anymore but he'd gotten a large bump for his troubles. "I don't' think you can call a gigantic wolf a damsel in distress. Not without sounding crazy."

David shrugged. "Whatever we still saved your ass and you know it."

He paused, hand still on his head. "Yeah you did." He said softly. "Thank you, I really don't know what I would have done or what I _could _have done if you two hadn't shown up."

David nudged him with his shoulder, grinning. "What are best friends for?"

Blaine laughed. "Not that I want to ruin this wonderful moment of chivalry between us but where are we? This is most definitely not my room."

The room he was in was larger than his with a bed in one corner and a large couch that they were sititng on in the middle. It was filled with the latest video game systems and a large tv, a bookshelf stood in the corner blocking out one part of the green wall.

David flushed. "Well Wes and I didn't know how to get you back inside your house—you were really passed out Blainers. And we didn't know if it was even to bring you back to your house so we decided you could stay here."

"And where is here exactly?"

"Currently you're at my house. Don't worry my parents are on vacation for the week so no one saw you while we were coming in."

Blaine jumped up from the couch as a thought occurred to him. "Fuck, I haven't been home in a day. They're fucking going to know I left. Fuck fuck fuck."

David whistled. "I think that is the most 'fucks' I have ever heard you say."

Blaine glared at him. "Not the time for humor. What am I supposed to do?"

David shrugged and stood up walking over to the small mini fridge near the bookshelf. He pulled out water and after Blaine nodded grabbed another one. "Relax for one. Wes is driving by your place right now to see if there's any cop cars. We'll take it from there."

"Police cars?" Blaine said, feeling sick to his stomach. Absently he caught the water David threw at him, without even looking up.

"Well." David considered. "You _have_ been missing for a day."

Blaine groaned in reply, falling back against the couch.

They waited in silence for Wes to come back the only sound being that of Blaine occasionally opening his phone, waiting impatiently for someone to call or text him. Surely someone had noticed he was gone by now.

What was worse if everyone noticed him missing and were worried or if no one had noticed at all?

Blaine heard Wes' car pull up and he sat forward, tapping his hands nervously against his knees. David looked over at him concerned, tv temporarily put on mute. "Wes is back." He explained, hearing the boy open the door and then walk up the stairs.

David stared at him confused, and looked as if he was going to speak but then just shook his head.

"What's the word Wesley?" he called as soon as Wes had stepped into the room.

"Everything looks fine. I didn't see any police cars or any more cars than usual. "Wes sat down, relaxing into the couch. "I think it's safe to say we can sneak Blaine back in tonight."

David nodded, "Awesome. And now that that tension filled event is over with, I saw we relax and spend a few hours mindlessly killing zombies. What say ye?"

Wes grinned in agreement. "Sure. I'm in a zombie killing mood." He turned towards Blaine who shook his head. "I'll play later." He said mind still stuck on the fact that no one had notice he'd been gone. No not, no one, Wes and David had but it wasn't the same thing.

Way to show a guy his worth.

Shaking his head Blaine tried to focus on something else. He was too emotional right now, too raw so soon after his change with the beast's influence still running through him. Instead he thinks about Sue Sylvester and the deal she offered him.

He was going to die. Painfully and violently like the rest of the Beasts. He'd die before he'd really gotten to live, before he'd done anything he wanted to do. (What did he even want to do?) He'd die before he found anything worth living for and that was the thought that scared him the most that was the thought that kept him awake most nights. He didn't just want to be the beast; he didn't want to be one more mistake in the Family's long line of mistakes.

But she'd offered him something no one else could give him—she promised him a chance to live, and maybe she was lying, she was probably lying but it was better than what anyone else had given him.

He couldn't do it though, could he? She was lying most likely and it would be dangerous. And she said that one of the students was like him. He'd never met someone like him. All of the Beasts before him were dead and old magic wasn't common anymore, not unless you were touched by it.

But he can't through his life away on a chance, a mere chance that she might be able to help him. If he left his home, then he couldn't come back to it. This wasn't like sneaking his friends in or sneaking out for a day of fun and teenage rebellion. This was full on rebellion to the Family and they would find out eventually. When they did it was safe to say that Blaine would either be outcasted or hunted down. (Couldn't let our little mistakes roaming around free.)

He didn't even know if he'd be able to see Wes and David again. If he'd be able to come back to Westerville at all.

He didn't want to die. (What was he supposed to do?)

He didn't want to die. (Could he actually do this?)

Blaine didn't want to die at seventeen, and if not seventeen then at eighteen or nineteen. Whenever the curse finally overtook him and he'd die from a death even worse than the daily transformations.

This would kill him unless he stopped it and unlike all the others he had a small shred of hope. For a favor he could beat it.

Just a small insignificant favor.

-Chapter End-

**Author's note**: I was going to continue on but I thought that was a good place to end it and it wasn't a complete cliffhanger. Sort of.

So what did you all think?


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's note: **thanks for the reviews guys, I'm glad it seems to be well-liked. And hopefully after this chapter the pace kicks it up _at least _another degree. And I still really need to work on Snarled.

Listing to Studio Ghibli music is apparently very inspiring fyi.

-line break-

Blaine would never say that he was particularly clever or even of anything more than average intelligence but even he understood on some level how dangerous this was. He wasn't fooling himself, he was perfectly aware that this was probably the most dangerous ill-thought out thing he'd ever done in his entire life.

No matter how stupid or dangerous, how reckless he was being, how completely irresponsible-it was still his only chance at survival and all he'd ever done throughout his life was just try to survive it.

This was different. Sitting here in Sue's office, actually listening to her talk was different. Now that he wasn't the wolf (who despite the situation had acted like he was in control) or a confused, drugged, and kidnapped teenager it was actually easier to listen to her and not feel like tearing her throat out. Weird.

"Any questions fido?" She said still staring at him with her same piercing eyes and Blaine shrugged.

"A few." Most of his questions are about the other night and not this crazy 'mission' that she's trying to make him go own. Though he does have relevant questions to that also. "How do you know so much about me? And others like me? You said there were others like me."

He's never met anyone like him. The kind of magic that cursed his family was old magic, old and powerful fey magic and it's not common anymore not in a place like America which was so new compared to the rest. (Even the curse on his family was older than this country, they'd taken it with them when they immigrated years and years ago.)

The thought that there might be others like him is terrifying and yet the wolf is excited heart beating just ever so much faster at the very thought.

"My parents were _hunters_." Blaine's head jerked up and he stared at her with wide gold eyes. "Not just of your kind but whatever thing they could catch. This was back then, before werewolves and vampires and even fairies became a cheap teenage sex-appeal gimmick. It stretched back in our blood and when I was younger I did it too." Blaine thought that she sounded different, voice slightly softer, eyes distant though he didn't know if it was out of fondness or something else.

"For the most part it was difficult finding and tracking these creatures, the worst were the kinds like you. Where it had infected the bloodline and there was no cure. We usually left them alone because they just ended up destroying themselves in the end."

It's true and Blaine remembers tales about past beasts. How if they didn't die by the curse then it was usually something else. Rarely any confirmed deaths but always something suspicious like a car accident or an allergy that they must have had, an overdose that couldn't be proven as intentional. Always something. How one day he might be like that, dead either way and just waiting for it to catch up to him.

"And as for how I know so much about you specifically, well it's not exactly hard to look up information about a teenager if you're as well connected as I am, even if they happen to be reclusive, home-schooled and barely exist aside from a single official document- such as a birth certificate."

Blaine thought for a moment and then realized he should probably get to the important questions and not focus on the mystery that was Sue Sylvester. "You want me to find this kid right? I don't even know his name. Are there any leads? Anything I should know?"

Sue's eyes narrowed but her smirk widened. "His name is Kurt Hummel, I'll give you a picture but the two I send with you are familiar on what he and his kidnapper looks like. The leads are-."

"The two you're sending with me?" Blaine asked surprised.

"You think I was sending _you_ alone? Clearly your mental state is deteriorating by the day, not a very good sign Cujo."

"Well who are you sending with me then?" Blaine huffed, a suspicious feeling in his gut.

Sue's smile looked vicious. "My two best, Brittany and Santana."

"No." Blaine said immediately. Because Brittany had been his friend (Was she still his friend?) and she'd trapped him without even a second thought. She'd screwed him over and both man and wolf barely held back the growl at the very thought of her and Santana.

"It's not a negotiable thing Wolverine. I might need you for this but you need them."

He snorted. "I need two cheerleaders who screwed me over and gave me to someone like you? I think not and why do you even need me anyway? You never said."

And that was the only time in his relationship with Sue Sylvester that Blaine ever saw her grow quiet, her smile-smirk completely dropped and so did the maniac look in her eyes. It would be the only time that Blaine would call her expression defeated. "It's not uncommon at this school for kids to sometimes be overlooked. I'm not going to pretend otherwise. We made a mistake, a very big mistake and someone got hurt. He was the abuser and not the victim no one thought to look."

"What?"

"I'm explaining Jacob so cool it for a second and let me think. What this means is that no one noticed when something unusual started to happen. No one noticed when he got sick, when the headaches started to happen and when he got even more aggressive and bitter at the world. No one noticed when the voices started, no one noticed it _infecting _him slowly day in and day out until he wasn't a man anymore but just a beast. And then it was too late and he snapped and I've been trying to fix this fuck up ever since."

Blaine bit at his lip, trying not to speak because he couldn't get past the horror of it. "The boy who kidnapped Kurt, the one who became…infected, he was like me wasn't he? Except Santana said that he didn't change during the day?"

Sue laughed quietly for once not sounding menacing or even vague threatening, it was almost nice. "Your recall as a beast is astounding. But yes he was like you and his curse was the opposite of yours. Curses are tricky like that, always different for whatever situation that caused it."

She glanced over at the clock. "That's enough for today, I'll send Brittany and Santana over tomorrow with the rest of the information you'll need."

"I didn't even say yes." Blaine protested. "And how do you know where I live?"

Sue smirked. "You will, I can already read it in your innocent hazel puppy-dog eyes. And as for the second question as I said before it's not hard to find out information about a teenager, right Blaine Anthony Anderson?"

"Right. Leaving now."

"Blaine, wait a moment." Blaine stopped and looked over at her curiously.

"Just because I'm telling you to do this doesn't mean you have to. I'm not trying to get another kid in trouble."

Blaine smiled bitterly at her. "I'd get in trouble either way ma'am, you're just giving me something to do before it gets worse." He waved at her before leaving, the dark halls of McKinley greeting him.

At this point he'd made up his mind even if he was still wary about whether or not it was the right choice. This would be dangerous he knew that much and it might take him a long time-the rest of his short life-but it was something good, wasn't it? He was trying to help someone and that had to count. He had to make up for the family's misdeeds somehow.

He was doing the right thing then even if made him nervous, made his skin try to crawl away and hide, even if he couldn't imagine leaving his home much less Wes and David on a permanent basis.

Oh god how was he supposed to tell if this was the right choice? He'd never had a choice like this before, there'd never been any possibility since he'd rarely left home at the beginning and then later hadn't left at all.

How did normal people figure it out?

Thoughts like this plagued him as he walked home. He'd had to walk because for the second time in his life he hadn't told his friends about this. Wes and David were too overprotective and they wouldn't understand, because they didn't know everything but when he'd left his only thought had been that he had to at least _try_.

By the time he managed to get home his feet were tired, his thoughts were still racing and it was near sunrise. When he actually fell asleep it was to the familiar body of a wolf.

_The wolf jumps back at the feel of cool stone against his paws, he's not in his room then where is he? Before he can ponder the thought it's gone, too complex and out of his reach. The wolf doesn't care that he's not in his room. He just wants to be free and once more they're trapped, kept away like they aren't the strongest, as if they aren't the most powerful. _

_The wolf growls. Oh they'll show them who's the strongest. _

_He can see in color, it's not as vivid as when he's a man but the details are sharper and that's what matters. The wolf doesn't care that he can't see in color right now, it doesn't notice as it starts to move down the dark space, searching for something to track but there are no scents and he's growing frustrated. Huffy little breaths and small growls. _

_It searches and searches for days, years, maybe only seconds because time doesn't matter either. Only the search because he knows he needs to search, he's looking for something-for once they both are but there is no smells, no sights just dark space and the wolf and man. _

_In the end it's always just them no matter how much the wolf wants freedom or how much the man clings to his humanity, it will always be just them until the curse strikes for the last time or a bullet goes through their skull-just because the wolf has a survival instinct doesn't mean the man always does. _

_The wolf just understands the search. The man tries to look for the meaning in it. _

_Eventually, eventually they reach a room, no not a room but a different space. The small flickering light is a strange shade of white-blue and they stare at it a moment before discarding it. The wolf doesn't question why he can see color now. Maybe he'd been able to see it all along but just hadn't noticed. _

_It's empty save for two things. The light and a person curled up in the corner. The wolf pauses a few feet away from the human. This isn't what he was searching for was it? Some human?_

_No, there must be something else in here. Something important but he can't think because what he wants to think is too difficult for him to understand right now and his heavy thoughts are going round and round in circles until he doesn't remember what he wanted to think about at all. _

_When they look back it is to another source of blue. The human's eyes stare at them, piercing and sharp and the wolf wants to growl, the human needs to back down, needs to know his place but he can't make a sound. _

_The wolf steps forward-to lunge, to kill, to bark, to do something because he is not afraid of some human and the black dissolves until there is just blue, from the light and the eyes, just blue. _

Blaine wakes up with the image of blue seared into his eyes.

"So this is your room? pretty swanky Anderson." a familiar horrible voice said and Blaine tries to jump out of bed, a growl in the back of his throat and all he got was the sound of Santana's laughter. Fucking bitch.

"Look Britt, the puppy wants to play." She said still laughing.

He tried to glare at her but after a few futile moments gave up.

Brittany smiled hesitatingly at him from her spot on his chair, she looked more still then he'd ever seen her and Blaine realized almost painfully that that was because of him. She was afraid of him, he could smell it and something else on her.

Santana had no fear at all. Only her constant scent of anger and impatience. "Cool it, till we can understand you."

Blaine rolled his eyes and sat back down on his bed, resolutely trying to ignore her as she studied his stuff, essentially his life and made sarcastic little comments about it.

He does his best to ignore them but even so when the sun finally goes away at it's own agonizing pace he forgets about them completely. Tonight isn't a particularly bad change, easier than any of the one's he had recently so at first he doesn't understand the almost horrified looks on their faces. But then he remembers that they didn't see him change last time, he'd run away before that.

"What do you want?" He said not caring that he was still shirtless. "and how did you get into my house?"

"Coach Sylvester said you might want this." Brittany handed him a thin manila folder and then looked away from him.

"We got in through the window." Santana added, sitting down on his desk. "Now hurry up and cover your scrawny chest and read the damn folder."

The folder is full of three sections. The first section is about David Karofsky, the kidnapper. It's more detailed than anything he's seen, with a complete medical history, even a genealogy chart and a family tree detailing how exactly the curse passed through his family roughly every two generations. He's never see anything like it. David's picture is on the very last page, a school picture. He's tall and big with a red sports jacket, he has brown hair and greenish eyes and he looks _normal_, so normal that it nearly hurts just staring at him because David doesn't look like a monster. How could he have been a monster if he got to have a life?

Quickly he moves onto the next page which is Kurt's. It's similar to David's without the charts and family trees, just history and information most of which is probably similar to any other teenager. Aside from a brief stint on the football team it looks like Kurt and David have no connection on paper but there must have been something to link them. Why else would David, even infected, take him?

Similar to David's folder the last page is Kurt's photo, also a school picture. That's where the similarities end. Where David looked confident-star football player after all Kurt radiates timidity, hesitancy. Oh, it's not anything materialistic such as his perfectly stylish clothes or his nicely kept hair but it's him. From the way he holds himself, from how Blaine can see the edge of his hands in the picture, from his shy but still somehow assure smile, from the look in his eyes of someone who understands, who has lived a hollow life. All of it is all so familiar and this time it does hurt staring down at a piece of paper.

He moves on to the last section, after another moment.

"Almost done?" Santana asks lazily and he nods at her skimming over the pages and pages of leads and clues. It's the thickest part and Blaine reads it all as Sue guesses on the cause of David's 'lapse' and where he might have taken him and why? When he finishes reading he feels a bit more confident about this whole thing even though he knows logically that it hasn't really helped anything.

Santana's still sitting on his desk but Brittany's moved over to his bed and is fast asleep. "Still up for all this?" Her voice is quiet and she glances over at Brittany before looking back at him.

"I think so." He says just as quietly even though he knows he's made up his mind now. Because he knows that if he doesn't then the image of Kurt Hummel's timid eyes and almost shy smile while haunt him until he dies.

Santana snorted shaking her head. "Thought so. Anyway pack up, we're leaving in fifteen."

Blaine's eyes widened and a small incredulous sound came out. "What?"

"We're leaving in fifteen minutes, Anderson, we're three months behind and we need to catch up."

"Right, okay. Can you guys go wait outside for me?" He says trying to control the way his heart is pounding faster and how afraid he feels. He thought he'd have time. He thought he'd have time to explain, to make his friends understand but he doesn't.

Santana rolled her eyes but walked over to the bed and woke up Brittany, within minutes the two were gone, sneaking out his window as if they'd never been there. It only takes him a few minutes to pack his bag, light and easy to carry but he spends the rest of the time staring down at his phone.

In the end he leaves the message on David's phone because he rarely answers it. "Hey it's Blaine, I'm sure you guys might have figured this out by the time you get this but I'm leaving. I'm not going to ask you to forgive me, I don't have any right to but you have to understand that this was my only option, it's all I had left-"

"Blaine, come on!" Santana half-whispers, half-yells from just outside his window.

"I think I should get going my ride seems to be impatient. I just wanted to tell you that I'm so thankful for both of you. My life hasn't exactly been the best and I want to let you know, that no matter what happens to me you two were the best parts of it. Thank you for always being there for me…I love you. Shut up David, I can see the look on your face from here but it's true. I think that's all I have to say, and if all goes well then I'll be home in a little while and if it doesn't…well I don't really want to think about what happens if it doesn't. On that morbid note I'm going to let you go. Goodbye."

And then it's just him and his room and for once it doesn't look like a spectacularly nice cage, there are no bars or restraints, there is no reason the boy who lived here would be forced to stay away from the rest of the world. Instead it is just a room, not his anymore, but just a room filled with books and video games. It is a room that could belong to anyone but it had been his.

A car, maybe Santana's or Brittany's, is waiting just out of view of his house and Blaine slides into the backseat. Santana starts to drive and Brittany's back asleep up front. Santana glances at his face through the mirror and thankfully says nothing.

For about five minutes but that's five minutes of peace he's grateful for. "Who'd you say goodbye to? Must have been someone important." He'd left the message for Wes and David and then had written a note for Cara, Annie, and Simon. They've been more family to him over the years then anyone else actually in The family. It's a short note but it promises that he'll try to come home.

He didn't leave a damn thing for his parents or anyone else.

"No one, I didn't say goodbye to anyone." Blaine said quietly.

"You're a fucking liar Anderson." she accused without much bite.

He sighed. "I left a fucking voicemail to two of the most important people in my life and then I left."

Santana nodded. "At least you said goodbye, better than leaving shit unsaid."

Blaine rolled his eyes. "And who'd you say goodbye to?" He imagines a line of people all of them waiting for the ice queen to say goodbye, trying to get one brief moment of her immaculate presence.

"No one."

"You're a fucking liar." he echoes and she rolls her eyes at him, muttering something about 'childish fuck.'

"I'm not lying. I didn't need to say goodbye to anyone I was leaving behind so I didn't." Santana said quietly and Blaine lets the subject drop, content to just not speak.

A while later Santana looks back at him and frowns. "Get some sleep, we've got a big day tomorrow and I don't need your wolfy ass screwing up because you didn't get enough sleep angsting about your last words."

"Bitch." Blaine muttered but he got more comfortable anyway.

"Short fuck." she said back though he thought she might have been smiling.

Tomorrow would be a new day. Something that could either be a beginning or an ending for his life and Blaine knew now that he'd closed himself off from his own world, it was his.

Tomorrow was for him.


	6. Chapter 6

**Author's note: **thanks for all the great reviews, I'm glad everyone's seemed to like it so far.

On a different note. I've warned you before that this is supposed to be like a fairy tale and a mix of magical realism, I'm just saying this one more time so that when weird shit starts happening you don't all look at me and gasp.

It's a bit shorter than usual but not by much and hey it's an early/on time update!

-line break-

Blaine sleeps very little that first night and sleeps even less the next, until finally Santana stops off at a drugstore and buys him some sleeping pills all while scowling and cursing. He dreams of his friends and of the family, and sometimes for some reason he dreams of things he's never seen, things he's never known. He dreams of being bound in iron, cold iron and trapped in darkness save for a blue light.

Santana and Brittany don't question him about the dreams, not even the sole night he woke up screaming because it had physically hurt him. They don't question him and he doesn't question them. Things are still tense and sometimes the beast still thinks it hates them.

They adapt to Blaine's changes quickly at first with horror and then their own usual brand of acceptance: Santana makes her jokes and Brittany scratches him behind the ear on good days. Still it's difficult constantly being a car, at least back home he'd have room to run around or to sleep now it's just the backseat.

"Anderson would you stop barking at me, we're not lost." Santana snapped glaring at the wolf sitting in the backseat. It had only been three weeks and she already wanted to kill Blaine. If he wasn't barking then he was whining about his fucking friends or about how they still didn't have any leads. Was she whining her mouth off because they didn't have any leads? No, because she knew that this would take time, and if he didn't realize that then why the hell was he here?

Why even was he here? She'd realized back in the first week that Coach Sylvester had never told her or Brittany why Blaine was needed, and seeing his frequent confusion she doubted he knew either. She didn't think it was for his nonexistent muscles or underdeveloped brain.

"Maybe we should take a break." Brittany suggested, uneasy at another fight between her friends. "We've been in the car for the past two days."

At this Blaine's barking quieted down and he became still, staring at Santana with narrowed yellow eyes and for a second she remembered how angry they'd look back at the hallway. She didn't know how much he understood when he was all freaky like this but at least it wasn't like that first time. "Fine, but only for half an hour and then we're back in the car till we hit Columbus."

God damn it, they'd tagged-teamed her. This trip was going to be so much fucking fun.

"I can't fucking believe it." she said in disbelief staring at Blaine with incredulous eyes. As soon as they'd gotten out of the car he'd run around for five minutes and then dropped to the ground, deep asleep.

Brittany laughed, eyes bright and happy. "He's just been really tired." Things had slowly been getting better between her and Blaine. The wolf didn't trust her as much as human-Blaine did but he hadn't snapped and tried to hurt her either. In her mind it was similar to having a very large dog. When he was human was a different story-Blaine no longer looked at her the same way, he spoke civilly to her but he didn't smile and he didn't joke and it was almost horrible how much she missed the old Blaine.

"Whatever." Santana said dismissively. "as long as he isn't annoying me." even she had to admit that it felt nice just to relax for a little bit. They were all getting frustrated when Coach's leads led to nowhere.

"You know you like him." Brittany teased, resting her head on her shoulder. San rarely let them be close together in public and she knew the only reason it was happening now was back the rest-stop was a far-out one and away from the main road. "I can see it in your eyes."

"I don't like him." She muttered in disagreement. "I just want to figure out what his deal is."

"Same thing with you."

"Oh shut up Brittany." Santana said but there was no malice in her voice, no anger. Even at her worst she'd never been truly mad at Brittany before.

Despite her limit of only half an hour, they stayed there much longer; Santana and Brittany sitting on the old picnic table and Blaine resting in the grass. It was peaceful, simple and something that they knew wasn't likely to happen again for a long while. They'd both known coming into this that it wouldn't be easy but just for tonight things were okay.

"_Why can't I stay with you?" he begged staring up at her with wide yellow eyes and she looked away, shaking her head. "please? I'll do anything. I'll clean my room every single day, I'll help out with the lawn, please don't make me leave."_

"_Blaine-"_

_He cut her off, crying out with a panicked frenzy. "Please let me stay! I said I was sorry, it was an accident, please please let me stay!" It's heartbreaking to watch him like this and for a second she's unsure of what to do. How can they just push him away? But then she thinks of her husband and of the baby, and she thinks about a little boy who will have scars his entire life and her mind is made up. _

"_I'm sorry Blaine but it's already been decided. The family feels it's best if you move to a different house." He looks up at her with sad eyes, that if they'd been human might have looked familiar. Instead all she sees is the beast lurking within. "Cara and Annie will be moving with you along with Simon."_

_Blaine shook his head. "This isn't fair." he whispered as she ran a hand through his hair before leaving, unable to take it any longer. He stays like that, with his arms wrapped around his knees and his head resting on top of them, until Cara comes looking for him hours later. _

_He moves out of the house a week later. _

"_It's not that bad Blaine." Annie says quietly as she and Simon help him unpack his room. "Your mother and father will come visit you soon, and you get a bigger room now. Isn't that good?"_

"_It's not home." he said back staring out the window. "And they're lying. They say they'll visit but they've already abandoned me, so why would they visit me? I've been bad after-all." _

_Annie looked over at Simon uncertain what to do or say. They knew about Blaine's situation and why he was here but how could they help him? When in some way , not of his fault, it was true. "Blaine, they love you, they won't abandon you. You'll see, they'll visit you soon and in a little while you'll get to go back home."_

"_Right." he muttered, scowling. "You'll see, you'll see when they leave me."_

_Simon smiled at Blaine and pulled the woman away, off to the side of the room. "Why did you say that?" the older man hissed out, glancing over at their ward. "The Andersons have not given us a definite time or any time for Blaine to go back. Don't get his hopes up."_

"_I was just trying to help him. He's only a child and he's all alone now." she argued, crossing her arms. Do you realize how scared he must be? How lost he must be feeling?"_

_Simon sighed. "Don't you see? Then it's up to us to make sure he feels safe, it's up to us to make sure he stays on track. That is our jobs now but telling him childish things that won't help and may not happen is not."_

_She bit her lip and nodded. "I guess I understand."_

_Blaine noticed none of this, nor did he notice how more affectionate the three grew in the weeks after the move. All he did was stare out the window as if he waited long enough then maybe he'd see home from this strange place. Even as a wolf he sat by the window and waited because it was all he had left. _

_He didn't notice the _blue _eating at his room; the _blue _that dripped down the walls and toed the carpet, the _blue _that surrounded him, the _blue_ light-the _blue_ of a pair of eyes and the _blue _from a light, eating at his room and at his memories. He didn't notice the way it almost looked like a boy. He didn't notice any of it because some part of him was still waiting. _

Blaine blinked coming awake quickly as something started to touch his fur. A hand pulled away and he crushed the instinct to bite; it was something he'd trained himself not to do as he'd matured but lately it had gotten harder to remember his rules, to remember the controls he'd taught himself.

Brittany stared down at him, a pretty smile on her face though it faded slightly, almost unnoticeably. "San says we're leaving as soon as you change back and the sun is supposed to set soon."

He huffed in response and nodded his head, jogging over towards the car with Brittany following him at a much more leisurely pace. "Do you think flowers feel anything?" she wondered staring at the field where he'd been sleeping, as he pulled his duffle bag out. "Like if you accidentally step on them or something?" she frowned, eyes widening. "Oh god what If I've cause a flower massacre and they come back for revenge and attack me? It'd be fair."

She stopped talking as he went around the side of the car, hiding from where she could see him.

He panted, letting his mind relax into a more animalistic-sense as the pain started to come. The wolf was better at handling pain, at ignoring it to push forward. It growled lowly, nerves alight as the sun set and the sky darkened.

The transformations had hurt a lot lately, more than usual and he dreaded what that meant. It was probably nothing-just him being oversensitive and stressed. Tonight's was no different, and for a few minutes afterwards he stayed on the ground, still so as to not hurt himself and clutching at his chest. The air was knocked out of him but finally he stood and got slowly, carefully got dressed.

"Blaine?" Brittany asked quietly, she was sitting on the car now, staring up at the dark night's sky. Blaine pulled himself up until he was sitting right next to her. While day seemed to hate, to shun him the night had always been his if only because it had been the only one to take him. "Do you think the world just stops when we aren't looking?"

"Britt?" He said in surprise, starting to turn to look at her but she stopped him, waving a hand.

"Do you think that maybe everything just stops, like someone froze time? I want to see it stop one time. I think even Santana would like that." She sounded odd-a mix of sadness and wistfulness coloring her voice. " I think everyone wants that sometimes." It was hard imaging Brittany like this much less seeing it but that was the reality. Sometimes everyone felt like this and everyone wanted to change something, to get a break or themselves or for someone else. It was just the way things were.

He didn't want a moment to stop time, he didn't need it. He didn't care about enjoying things not the way other people did because he wasn't like other people and he'd never be like them. No he didn't need things but he _wanted_ he wanted was a moment that could change, a moment that he could shift. Because he was someone who desperately needed to control his life, to keep a hold on his flaws and somewhere along the line he'd made a mistake and had lost control.

It didn't matter. Time wouldn't stop not for Brittany to enjoy and not for him to fix, it didn't work for that and it didn't bend to them. It in fact, didn't bend at all.

"Yeah." he said softly. _I'd give my blood and sweat and tears for a chance to change it but I can't, no one can. _"I think you're right on the mark."

Suddenly she leaned over and grabbed his hand, his own dwarfing her warm ones. "I know." It didn't matter that they'd been fighting or that sometimes she was still afraid of him and sometimes he still felt like he couldn't trust her and sometimes he thought he might hate her.

He had a time limit. Everyone did but he knew when his was and that made things all the more significant and he wasn't prepared to waste the last few years of it being angry over useless things when he had a chance, a small chance, to change _this_ moment. He was here and he'd stay with them until they found Kurt.

"Hey! What the hell are you two doing on my car?" Santana shrieked. She was dressed in different clothes than before, more casual and was carrying a plastic shopping bag.

Blaine slid off the car and help Brittany off who just smiled at her. "We we're just looking at the stars." she said cheerfully a complete contrast to the girl she'd been five minutes ago.

Santana rolled her eyes. "Whatever, Coach Sylvester called and we're still supposed to go to Columbus but our limit's three days there and if we don't get anything then we're and I quote 'to head west until shit gets freaky'."

"Freaky?" Brittany asked mouth quirked up. "Like talking cats?"

"Only if they know where ladyface is." Santana added smirking.

"I need to check my phone." Blaine said suddenly, interrupting them. After the first few days he'd kept his phone turned off afraid of what Wes and David would say and of the possibility that they wouldn't have said anything at all. The thought of them worrying was what made him want to check. They were his friends after-all and they'd deserved more than the message he'd left them.

"Expecting a call?" Santana asked crossing her arms.

"You could say that." he muttered fumbling around with his phone and turning it on with slightly shaky hands.

_Fifteen new text messages_

_Thirty-six missed calls_

_Seventeen missed voice mails. _

**Click**

_Nine missed messages from Wes _

_Six missed messages from David_

They were a mix of threats, demands for his location, cursing, and promises that Blaine had better be safe. Blaine bit his lip, fingers hovering over the reply button before he moved his hand and checked his phone calls.

**Click**

_Sixteen missed calls from David. _

_Fifteen missed calls from Wes. _

_Two missed calls from Annie. _

_One missed call from Cara. _

_One missed call from Simon._

_One missed call from Everett Anderson. _

"Oh shit. Oh shit. Oh fucking shit." Blaine said faintly, dropping his phone to the ground.

"Blaine?" Brittany said in concern but her voice sounded distant to him and it was like he was a wolf again; the world had closed itself off and everything seemed to fade away.

_One missed call from Everett Anderson. _

_One missed call from Everett Anderson. _

It wasn't possible. It just wasn't physically possible for that number, for that person to have called him. In the two years since Blaine had had the phone he'd never called. Oh god oh god The Family knew he was missing. They knew and they were going to hunt him down like he was a fucking dog because that's what he was. Oh god how was this happening- "Anderson, what the hell is going on with you?" Santana said her voice right next to his ear and she was too close, too too close and he pushed her away, eyes never leaving the screen, the words _one missed call from Everett Anderson _imprinted into his mind.

Blaine hit redial, ignoring Santana and Brittany. The only thing he could focus on was the sound of ringing. His fingers were shaking completely now but he couldn't stop it and the beast inside him wanted to cry out, wanted to run as far away as possible.

_Do you think that everything just stops when we aren't looking? _

The ringing cut off abruptly and he breathed in sharply.

_I want to see it stop. _

"Blaine." the familiar voice greeted, the voice that he'd heard every Sunday. The voice that had told him he was a monster over and over again until he'd believed it, until it had made him hate himself so much that he wanted to carve the word into the walls, to paint it on his skin. The voice that had detailed how his miserable pitiful life would be spent.

_I think everyone wants that sometimes. _

"Hello Grandfather."

- chapter end-


	7. Chapter 7

**Author's note: **thanks to everyone who reviewed and I hope this was a somewhat manageable time wise update.

-line break-

At seventeen Blaine's grandfather could strike as much fear into his heart as he'd done at seven. Everett Anderson ruled The Family, his family with an iron fist and a cold-steel mind. No one went against him and expected to be returned in a similar condition-and Blaine, oh god, he'd done exactly that even if it had been accidentally. He'd crossed him and now he had The Family against him.

When Blaine was younger he 'd gone to his grandfather's every Sunday. Before the 'incident' however he'd spent even more time with him and once he'd been taken to work with him. He had watched him tear part a business rival of his and all he'd been able to think of was chess. In a few strategic moves he'd incapacitated his business associated and had won the contract, with patience and skill.

"Blaine?" Brittany said and she sounded so afraid but he couldn't worry about that now.

"I expect that you have a good reason for this." His grandfather said, still conversationally as if he wasn't deciding Blaine's fate the same way he might decide what wine to drink with dinner.

Blaine knew what was going to happen. He'd seen it first hand before; his grandfather verbally destroying staff, other companies, even his own children with a few careful words. "I'm sorry sir-"

Everett cut him off. "Your mother is very worried about you." That was probably-definitely-a lie. Despite not being afflicted like the rest of his family his mother was still just as cold and closed off as the rest of them, she wouldn't care that he was gone. She'd probably be elated.

"I'm sure she is, sir." he said quietly, trying to think of what to do.

"The staff are also very worried about you; three in particular. Hannah Lane, Cara Mendel, and a Simon Gellar."

_The first thing you have to do Blaine is find someone's weakness. Everyone has one, once you find it all you need to do is use a precise strike and that's your first move. _

"Sir, what are you going to do-"

_Then comes the second move; eliminate all resources until they're vulnerable. Vulnerability is the key to success. That's why Andersons don't have one. _

"I also believe your friends…Wes and David is it? are worried about you, their parents are quite furious I hear."

_Strike _

For a moment he was silent, trying to regain his ground and just think. "Blaine, what's going on?" Brittany said, and she sounded afraid, eyes wide and worried. Santana was still angry, pressing him for details but it was all too much to handle at one time and he needed to focus, he needed to find his own move but his grandfather didn't have weaknesses, he'd eliminated his own already.

_Strike_

"Anderson." Santana barked out.

He wasn't equipped to handle situations like this. In the scale of it all, even if he didn't want to admit it, he was more animal than human, more instinct than logic and his instincts were telling him to run. He'd been challenged by someone he had no chance of beating and running was all that was left.

He'd already ran and that hadn't worked out. He needed something else. "What do you want from me?" he said quietly, holding up a hand to silence his friends even though he knew it would only infuriate Santana.

"The question." Everett said with careful consideration. "Isn't what I want but what _you _want."

_Do you want this the easy way? Or do I really have to get involved in this? You know you don't want me involved with anything to do with the likes of you. _

It was a blind hope, a foolish one. If he just explained everything then maybe it would work out. "I need to do this sir-"

"Do you now?" The amusement was clear in his voice and Blaine closed his eyes tightly, trying to push back his feelings before they snapped and caused more trouble. "And what exactly do you need to do so badly? What could possibly rectify leaving your home and family? Endangering your friends? Tell me now, I bet this will be entertaining."

"I was offered a deal." he said in a rushed breath knowing that he had this small chance to try to convince his grandfather and that would be it. "I was offered a way to break the _curse_ and I took it." That wasn't exactly the truth, not really but when playing around with Everett Anderson no one could afford saying the exact truth.

Just for a second, a small foolish childish second Blaine that it had worked, some naïve part of him thought it had actually worked. "I know you can't help being a beast but I thought at least you'd escape being a fool." his grandfather said grimly and he could hear the disappointment in his voice, the paternal pressure because Blaine had failed him once again. "Stay away from this nonsense."

"It's not nonsense, I can break the curse." Blaine argued but he was cut off once more.

"And how do you suppose you'll do so?" the amusement was back but there was something else, something that he couldn't place but he thought it sounded like fear. _Andersons however weren't afraid of anything. _"What kind of filth has challenged your already questionable sanity?"

"This woman said she'd help me, I just have to do a favor for her." this wasn't going to work, he knew it wasn't going to work so why was he still trying. "It's just a favor why can't you understand that-"

"A favor?"

Blaine bit his lip and nodded once but he realized that his grandfather couldn't see it. He answered quickly, nervously. "Yes, just one favor and everything will be fixed."

"A favor? You think a favor will undo centuries of strong unsightly magic, you think a favor will rewrite all of our mistakes, you think you the most damned member of this family can fix it all with a _favor_?"

"I-I-"

"Unless." Everett said quietly, horror and realization clear. "Unless it's a favor to do with the fey."

"The fey?" he said confused. The Family didn't talk about the creatures that had cursed them, they rarely mentioned magic or even the curse itself. Sometimes it was almost as if it didn't exist and Blaine with his changing form was the only proof they had to bear. He didn't understand what the fey had to do with this. He didn't understand any of this- "What do _they _have to do with anything?"

"_they_ they have to do with everything." His grandfather muttered absently.

"Sir, I don't understand what's going on-"

"three days." Everett said quietly. He could almost picture him, sitting in his office and staring at the phone with a look of indifference, of arrogance. "You have three days to return home."

He'd failed then. The promise of our cure, of a fix hadn't been enough and now he'd been sentenced. A touch on his arm startled him out of his miserable thoughts and he glanced up to find Brittany staring at him with concern. _Are you okay? _she mouthed, looking at the phone.

"Blaine." a voice commanded out over the phone and he held it back up to his ear still staring at the blonde.

"What if I don't come home?"

_Strike_

"Blaine?" two voices said, one that of a kind hearted cheerleader and the other of a man who'd made him miserable and hurtful nearly every moment of his life.

He didn't hesitate. "I'm not coming home."

_Strike_

"Think about every moment of peace you've had, every single moment of happiness and know that it's over with. When you come back home everything that had once remotely amused you will be gone and the staff will be replace with trained guards, you'll have bars on your window made of the strongest steel, and a lock with a security key, a new fence will be resurrected and you'll have a tag telling me your whereabouts every second of the hour for twenty-four hours until I die or you die with the latter being more likely."

_Strike_

He'd never heard such unrestrained hate before, not from anyone, not even from the people in the Family who hated him the most. It was…_startling. _" I will have the best men I can find hunt you down, like the dog that you are, you will be haunted until you're caught or you kill yourself, every second of relaxation is gone and your days will be filled with unbearable pain that will make you consider the accursed transformations a blessing of a reprieve."

_Strike_

The Family didn't play nicely with others. They fought and stole, they used blackmail and other means, they clawed to the death for their control and whatever rules were set in place stayed that way. And Blaine? Blaine had shoved it in their face and broken every single one of them by running away, by trying to fix their problem.

_Andersons don't accept help. _

"Is that clear?"

_Check _

Blaine closed his eyes, nails leaving crescent shaped indents into his skin and his nose told him that he was bleeding, the metallic scent flooding the area. "crystal." he said hoarsely and when he closed the phone he threw it against the closest tree he could find as hard as he could, sealing his fate.

_Checkmate_

"What the hell was that?" Santana said eyebrows raised and her mouth draw in a thin hard line.

He shook his head and realized suddenly as he was falling to the ground that his knees were shaky.

Blaine promptly threw up.

Santana rolled her eyes as she stepped back in disgust. "What the hell did I sign up for?" she muttered as Brittany started panicking over the mutt.

It only took half an hour from Blaine to calm down and that was only because he was tired of Santana insulting him and telling him to 'suck it the fuck up Anderson, we both left home too and you don't see us throwing up like a pregnant chick.'

By that time Santana had realized with a mix of frustration and irritation that they wouldn't be able to get anywhere by nightfall and in anger she threw his sleeping bag outside and told him she couldn't stand having the wet dog smell in her car for another night. In response Brittany quietly grabbed her own sleeping bag out of the car and set it next to his. "It's like camping." she said with a beaming smile as they started to gather fire wood.

"Right, exactly like camping." Santana said dryly, sitting on top of her car as she watched them. She wasn't going to fucking freeze for the likes of Anderson and if Brittany wanted to go along with it then good for her but she wasn't joining his pathetic pity party.

No fucking way.

"Is this enough fire wood?" Brittany said gesturing the pile they'd made.

Blaine frowned. "I don't really know, I've never been camping before." he'd never really been outside before either.

Brittany smiled at him throwing the firewood with the rest of the stack. "Me neither unless camping with Lord Tubbington in my grandma's attic counts."

Oh god the brainless twins really were going to freeze weren't they? How fucking clueless could two people be? Santana slid off the car with a sigh, shaking her head. "That won't even last you halfway through the night." she said pointedly smirking at the frustrated look that paced over perfectly happy Anderson's face.

"You think you could do any better?" He said dryly glaring at her. "If so then go right a head."

She rolled her eyes. "Whatever, you and Britt get started on dinner and I'll get the fucking firewood." without waiting for a response she stalked off, heading toward a deeper part of the woods.

"I don't think I'm going to be able to handle the entire trip with her." Blaine muttered sitting down on one of the logs surrounding their fire pit. "I'll either kill her or she'll kill me. I guess my grandfather would appreciate that."

Brittany laughed, sitting down next to him. She nudged his shoulder with a quick grin. "She's not that bad."

"Right right, the same way Hitler was only a little bit evil."

"Who?"

He looked at her startled, wondering if she was actually serious and then just shook his head. "Never mind Britt, the point is she's evil and I can't stand her and we're both perfectly content to hate each other."

"That's horrible." Brittany said leaning against his shoulder and staring back at the dark woods. "And you're lying, I can tell by now."

Blaine laughed quietly, all of his anger fading away at once. He couldn't let Santana get to him, not when he had bigger problems. They still had to find Kurt and David and now he had his grandfather and the entire Family to deal with. " I guess so. I just…I don't, I just can't-"

"See any good in her?" Brittany suggested, her lips quirked up in what might have been a smile.

He nodded and she closed her eyes for a moment, thinking about something. "You just have to be patient." she said quietly, almost as if whispering. "No one ever waits long enough to see San at her best."

"Be patient?" Blaine said trying not to sound as confused as he felt and all Brittany did was nod.

"Just be patient and I pinky promise things will work out between you two."

Santana returned fifteen minutes later, the bottoms of her pants covered in mud and dirt but no more worse for the wear, in her arms was a stack of logs and she set them down next to the fire. "Where's my food at?"

Blaine smiled at her but it came out more like grimace and he clenched his teeth together so hard that it hurt. "We forgot about it, sorry Santana."

"Of course you did." she scoffed lazily.

_Just be patient. _Oh, he'd be patient until the right moment to hit her over the head with the nearest piece of firewood. Despite what Brittany said there was just no way all of them were going to make it through this trip alive. Someone was going to die and he'd bet money on Santana.

_Blaine loved the view from the top of the Ferris wheel. It was his first time going and everything about it was exhilarating, he'd never seen the world, his world look so small before and it was nice knowing that everyone saw it this way and not just him. "This is amazing." he gasped out, slightly breathless and giggly. "You were right, this was a great idea."_

_His partner smiled at him, a fond look on his face. "I told you didn't I?"_

"_It's really great." Blaine acknowledged leaning away from the edge of the cart. He'd never imagined that he'd be doing anything like this. Going out on dates, going to a carnival, riding a Ferris wheel at nighttime-being normal. "Can we come again when it's light outside?"_

"_Of course." his partner said at once, understanding the importance of being able to go out in the daylight as himself. _

_He never thought he'd escape the beast but somehow this strange, beautiful boy beside had done it for him. He'd been thankful for that but he loved him for everything else. _

_Blaine had never imagined having someone really love him either. Oh god, he really loved him didn't he? Despite everything that had happened somehow he'd fallen in love. _

_He looked over at the dark sky, the small city bright with lights and the sound of the carnival below them still going on as if he hadn't just realized something important. Important didn't mean bad however and he grinned at the other boy, eyes bright and deliriously happy. He felt so happy he was almost dizzy with it all, the feelings consuming him but he couldn't stop smiling. _

_This was everything he had ever wanted. _

"_I love you." he said still looking away from him. "I really do love you."_

_A hand came up to touch his face gently and he let it turn him until he was staring at his partner. "Hey." he said softly, "I love you too. You know that don't you?" _

_Blaine laughed, nodding slightly (why had he ever been hesitant? When he could have all this) and leaned in, until he wasn't very far away from the boy. Until he was close enough to see into those blue eyes, he'd never seen anyone else with the same eyes, but it suited him perfectly. _

_Low growling cut him off and he froze at hearing the familiar sound, heart pounding in his chest. He looked over at the sky but everything was light now and the Ferris wheel and the carnival had disappeared without him noticing until only he and the boy were left. _

_The wolf stood across from them, Blaine's own eyes glaring at him with hate, animalistic hate and the dark wolf growled once more, deep in it's throat. "This can't be happening." he tried to say but he couldn't, his throat suddenly burning as he realized that he wasn't happy but in pain, he wasn't dizzy but his skin was getting ready to change. _

_Blaine fell to the ground as the wolf stepped forward, eyes never leaving the boy standing behind him. "Run." he tried to say, panting for air as he chest started to come apart as if something had sliced him open. "Run!"_

_It came out like a howl. _

_The wolf didn't notice him, the wolf never noticed him but he always noticed the wolf and the beast lunged forward, jaws snapping open on it's prey and the other boy screamed a deathly scream and all Blaine could think was run, all he could think was please run as he lay there dying. _

_Somehow despite his own blood trying to drown him, despite feeling the blackness of something that might have been unconsciousness or death overtake him, despite it all he managed to get out one last name as the wolf howled and the other boy screamed. As the fire in his blood and his lungs, the fire of the change pulled him under. "Kurt!"_

Blaine gasped, waking with a start and clutching at his throat. Whatever dream fires that had plagued him stopped a few seconds afterwards as he calmed down but his throat still felt burned and parched and he quickly became aware that he wasn't the only one awake.

Santana looked at him up and down and bit out, "What's wrong with you Anderson?"

"Not in the mood." he muttered rubbing at his still dry throat. Sleeping with the fire on one side and Brittany on the other didn't help, though he hadn't felt the cold weather from earlier.

"Come on, what's bothering you? Cat got your tongue?" She said seeming to find herself clever because her wicked grin widened and her dark eyes looked glowing from the light of the fire.

"It's nothing you'd be interested in." Blaine sat up, and slowly got out of the sleeping bag careful not to wake Brittany. He was quiet as he walked around to sit on a log, trying to ignore the cheerleader.

Santana stared at him and then smirked. "Try me."

Blaine looked up at her, frowning and still angry and scared from the dream and everything that had happened today. If he concentrated harder enough he could still smell blood, fresh and metallic. The beast crowed _sharp human teeth_ at the scent, it was drawn to it. _he can still hear him screaming, that blood curdling scream as the wolf, as Blaine bites into him, fangs tearing into organs and veins, destroying everything it can-_ "I can't." he said simply, holding back a shudder.

Oh god, what was wrong with him that he was this screwed up? He'd never dreamt of anything like this before. For the most part the beast's conscious was separate from his, unless it was day time and he'd never once had a dream where the wolf was the one in control.

What did that mean? did it mean anything at all or was he overanalyzing everything because he was afraid so very very afraid?

"Let's play a game." She said suddenly.

"A game?" He was too tired to keep up from her, exhausted from the nightmare and still confused by it. Whatever trick Santana was trying to pull would probably work if only because he had no idea what was going on.

"Twenty questions."

He shook his head. "I'm tired." he lied. "there's no way I'll make it through twenty questions."

"Fine." she said easily, shrugging her shoulders. "Fifteen questions."

"No."

"Ten."

"Goodnight." he said more cheerfully then he felt.

"Five and I get to go first."

Blaine sighed. "Fine, whatever just hurry up."

"How are you so freaky?" Santana looked at him curiously, and he wanted to hide from that look but it was better than disgust, it was better than hate.

"You mean why am I like this?" He asked in reply and she shook her head, dark hair swaying slightly.

"No, I know why you're like this. A curse or something like that. I want to know why you're not like Karofsky."

"Dav-Karofsky was human during the day wasn't he?" Despite having similarities with David-Karofsky he wasn't interested in him, he didn't want to see the reflection of someone who was painfully similar to him but far too different. For some reason his thoughts kept going back to Kurt. Why had Kurt been taken? Who had he been taken by?

She nodded, an impatient look on her face.

"Curses are different, one is never the same as another. If Karofsky was human during the day then that meant he changed at night. It's just the way the curse was written."

The answer whoever didn't seem to appease her and she looked at him impatiently, "Well it's your turn isn't it?"

"What's your favorite color?" he said quietly. He wasn't in this for the deep meaningful questions, he just wanted to finish this game of hers and sleep for the next thousand years.

"Really?" She laughed. "That's the best you got?"

"Just answer the question." Blaine snapped out growing irritated.

"Blue." she said quietly, glancing once at something behind him and he wondered if it was the sky or Brittany.

"Why are you doing this insane mission of Coach Sylvester's?"

She couldn't just return the favor and ask him his favorite color or what his middle name was. Something simple. "I'm doing this because it's my last chance." he said purposely delightful in the frustration on her face. "My turn."

"What are you so afraid of?" he said intently, staring at her face and trying to something of what Brittany saw.

"Bees." she said immediately. "It comes with the whole deathly allergic territory. Anderson, you suck as much as a sixth grade girl at this game."

"That's not what I meant-"

"What do you mean _last chance_?" Santana pressed, eyes narrowed. "Explain."

"I'm dying." he said simply at first and at her angry look he just held up a hand, thinking for a moment. "Curses have a funny way about them. They're always painful or humiliating and for the most part the old ones end in death. Mine is no different. If I can't find a way to break it I'll die within the next year, maybe two if I'm lucky but I doubt it."

Blaine smiled grimly at her. "So yes, this is my last chance. I'm dying and that's all there is to it. And it seems as if it's my turn again. Funny."

"Why are _you_ on this mission of Sue's? You don't like Kurt, I can tell that right now from the way you talk about him, you don't like Karofsky and you fear Sue but fear's not a strong enough motive for potentially endangering your life. So what is it?"

Santana's mouth snapped closed and all traces of amusement disappeared from her face and her eyes and Blaine was greeted by her familiar sullen look. "What do you think?"

"Is that your question?" he said challengingly. "Because I'll answer it for you and I'll still have two left and you'll have one."

She ran a hand through her dark hair, muttering curse words under her breath, some in English and some in Spanish. "It's for Brittany." she said at last, very quietly. "I'm doing this for Brittany."

Blaine wisely said nothing else about Brittany though his suspicions about the two were growing closer and closer. "Your turn." he reminded.

"What cursed you?" she said a smirk growing on her face as she struggled to gain back control. He'd found her vulnerable spot, maybe her only one and someone like Santana someone like her wouldn't appreciate it. No, it would only infuriate her.

Despite earlier Blaine was too used to not speaking about the curse, pretending it didn't even exist to reply at first and that only made her worse. "Come on Anderson, what turned you into a freak?" she said voice shrill and high and for a second he heard the howl of the wolf ringing in his ears, the sounds of someone screaming.

"Fey." he said, getting the word past his suddenly dry lips, from beneath a desert of a throat. "My family was cursed by the fey many years ago. Somewhere along the line, someone very stupid and foolish made a mistake against the fey and now they haunt us. Just waiting for the day that we all finally die. They cursed us with beasts and they cursed us with people who have only icy hearts and winter in their veins. That's what cursed me, that's what made me into such a freak." he paused, anger in his blood and heating it up, the wolf growling under the surface, it wanted to lunge and he wanted to hurt. "What made you into one?"

Santana opened her mouth to speak, eyes angry and fierce and looking exactly how he felt, and he stood up, cutting her off. "I still have a question left and that wasn't it. Play the game fairly or don't play it at all."

"Hurry up."

He wanted to hurt her, because she'd done something stupid and cruel. He wanted to hut her because she was miserable and mean and didn't deserve a second of patience despite what Brittany said. Mostly he wanted to hurt her because he could. "Do you love Brittany?"

Santana's eyes widened and she flinched back, a look of pain on her face, and without saying another word got up and ran into the car, slamming the door hard enough to rattle the windows.

Brittany stirred awake, "What's going on?" she said sleepily but Blaine shook his head and crawled back into his sleeping bag.

He pulled it over his head and pretended that he didn't feel like this even as the wolf panted in excitement. Santana's words echoing in his head along with the sound of high-pitched pain-filled screams.

- chapter end-


	8. Chapter 8

**Author's note: **thanks everyone for reviewing, I appreciate it, and I'm sorry this took a while but I've been out of town for most of march. And as fair warning I'm going to be working on my bigbang pretty soon but I'll try to kick out another update before that.

-line break-

Santana said nothing to him the next morning, in fact she refused to acknowledge his presence at all and Blaine, who'd spent half the night with screams ringing in his ears, was fine with that. Even when he'd changed back a few hours later she was still quiet, her ferocity dimmed.

Brittany didn't notice or if she did she didn't let on. "Where are we going again?" she asked, staring out the windows as the countryside raced past.

"Columbus." Santana said, messing around with the radio. "We have two days to get there and look around before we have to move up west."

"What's up west?" Blaine said quietly but Santana kept fiddling with the radio and didn't answer.

Brittany smiled at him. "Want to play eye-spy?" Blaine had spent most of the morning sleeping and agreed readily. They were so involved in their game, which due to Brittany's influence wasn't a regular game of eye-spy, that they didn't notice they were in Columbus until Santana had stopped the car and the radio turned off for the first time in three and a half hours.

Brittany paused in her guessing, "Is this Columbus?" she said excitement clear in her voice and Santana nodded. "Yeah, we have roughly thirty-six hours to see if this place has any leads."

He slid out of the car as they started talking, eyes wide as he took in the city. It still amazed him how big the world around him was. The city with it's towering buildings and looming points was nothing like home. At least he thought still somewhat stunned, he got to see all of this before he died. Something about it is off however but he puts it down to the smell of metal in the air, he's never been to a place made of so much steel and glass, no wonder the scent is making him slightly dizzy. Still, something is familiar about it, the metallic scent is something he's smelt before back hom-

"Anderson, come on." Santana barked out, she and Brittany some distance away from the car. "We've got thirty-six hours and we're not wasting it staring at the scenery."

Blaine rolled his eyes but quickly caught up to them.

Twelve hours of relentless searching later and Blaine considers giving up an absolutely not shameful cause, he's sure Kurt and David would understand. Even Brittany girl of impossible and uncontainable energy is tired, barely standing on her feet.

"This is fucking impossible." Santana muttered, staring at her cell phone with hateful eyes. "How the hell can she expect us to find a random lead in a city this big in thirty-six hours?"

"Twenty-four." Brittany said sleepily, "We're at twenty-four hours right now."

Santana looked at her, eyebrows raised but when the blonde said nothing else she went back to ranting.

Blaine stays quiet, not tired but sore from all the walking, and still feeling like he has a head cold. Is this what all big cities feel like? Maybe this has been the reason why such a powerful family as the Andersons have stayed in a small town.

"I mean how are we even supposed to find a lead? It's not like people have fucking signs that say 'ask about lady face and jockstrap at front desk'."

Blaine sits up and brushes the grass off his shirt. "Do you think there's a pharmacy around here?"

Santana glances over at him disdainfully. "Why?" It's the first direct thing she's said to him all day.

He bits back a reply and instead answers politely. Considering last night it's best to not anger her. "I don't feel good, something about this city is messing up my nose."

She stares at him for a moment, studies him with dark eyes and then suddenly shrugs, "Suck it up, Anderson, we need to keep moving." she says and then in contrast to her words leans back all the way against the grass.

Brittany looks at them, shrugs and then sits down too. "We're never gonna find Kurt, are we?" she says quietly, fingers picking daisies out of the grass and starting to make a chain of them.

"Don't be naïve Britt, we'll find him." Santana says easily but Blaine can see the concern in her eyes, can see the way her shoulders tense up and he wonders if she cares for Kurt for reasons other than Brittany.

She hums in her reply, trusting Santana's word.

"What's he like?" Blaine's got a somewhat clear picture of David Karofsky; popular, a beast, but somehow able to appear normal, the exact opposite of Blaine. But all he knows of Kurt is blue eyes and a hesitant smile.

"Magic." Brittany replies immediately, pausing in her flower gathering. "Kurt's like magic."

Santana snorts, holding back a laugh. "Yeah he's real _magical_."

Blaine scowls at her and she flips him off when Brittany isn't looking. "How's he magical Brittany?"

"Kurt is always nice and he's not like any of the other boys. If you need help then he'll help you and if someone's picking on you then he'll help you even though he always gets bullied and thrown into dumpsters." Brittany smiled. "So Kurt is magic, and that's why we have to find him."

"God damn it." Santana muttered. "Talking about how great saint Hummel is isn't helping us do a damn thing. Why couldn't she have sent us a bloodhound or something?"

"What?" Blaine said.

Santana rolled her eyes. "Bloodhound, you know? It tracks things, ever heard of that Amish boy?"

"Would you shut up for a minute? I'm trying to think through this." Blaine said closing his eyes. His sense of smell as a human wasn't anywhere close to the wolf's but it was better than an average human. If he concentrated then maybe he could smell-

Blaine's eyes snapped open. "I think I can smell it." he said, the metal scent becoming more clear as he focused. It was all over the city and unlike he had thought before none of it came from the buildings or the bridges, or anything actually steel.

It wasn't the city but something in it, something strong enough to pollute its scent.

"Smell what?" Santana sat up and Brittany stopped her daisy chain.

He shrugged. "Something off about the city, it's strong whatever it is."

Santana jumped up, something akin to a grin on her face, "Finally a fucking lead. Which way dogboy?"

He paused mouth set in a frown as he realized that though he could smell it his nose wasn't strong enough to actually track it. "I-I don't know."

"What?"

"Look." he said defensively. "It's not my fault. The smell is strong but there's no way I'm going to be able to track it till sunrise."

"Damn it." She sighed. "Fine, as soon as that sun comes up you better be chasing that smell like it's fucking prime rib."

"Right." he says in agreement because things with Santana are still edgy and some part of him wants to apologize but the other part just doesn't care, she started it after all. Torn he just gets his sleeping bag without saying anything else.

"Blaine?" Brittany says, a load of firewood in her arms, Santana's already in her sanctuary or rather the car and for now it's just them. "Can I ask you a question?"

Blaine smiles at her tiredly. "Sure."

"How are you gonna act around all those people?"

"You mean as the wolf?" _High screams, shrieks, flashes of red and the smell of blood as he tears out something that could be a throat. _

"Yeah."

"I'm not going to be like I was before if that's what your wondering." he laughs at the flash of surprise in her eyes. "I kind of figured I scared you that first time."

"So you won't be like-" She trails off but Blaine can fill in the word on his own; _monster_. "So you won't be like before." she finishes.

"No, before wasn't different. I was scared out of my mind and the wolf had more control than I usually let it have." Blaine's hands tighten, crest marks digging into his skin as bright red dances across his mind. "I won't let it."

Halfway through the night Santana and Brittany look over at him, eyes closed and breathing regular, before disappearing into some nearby woods and he wrinkles his nose at the crisp blunt smell of sex. Well now he's knows just how close they are.

He wonders about the possibility of teasing them-he's positive Britt wouldn't care-but the prospect of getting his face smashed in isn't exactly appealing.

A while later, when Blaine's nearly half asleep Santana goes back to her 'bed' in the car and Brittany crawls back in her sleeping bag. The smell in the air changes; still as metallic as before along with the scent of burning wood but now with the fading smell of sex and something sharper, saltier-tears. He opens his eyes slowly but there's no need Brittany's already fast asleep and he can see the tear tracks on her smiling face.

"Blaine slow down!" Brittany calls out, laughing as Blaine darts between people. The wolf stops and barks at her, wagging his tail, right now just a big dog in a big city. Santana catches up to them at her own casual pace, shaking her head and scowling.

"This is pointless." she says dryly. "He hasn't found a single thing."

"Just give him time." Brittany says gently. "He'll find it."

The wolf barks again, trying to edge them on. Most of his human conscious, the _Blaine _aspects are gone as he focuses completely on the hunt. He's still aware enough to control himself, he's always aware enough to control himself. But the wolf enjoys this, it enjoys tracking and hunting, it's just in its nature and for the first time _Blaine _is embracing it.

The wolf barks again, impatient and then it's off with Brittany on its heels and Santana following her. As the scent grows stronger (so much stronger that it's all he smells now), Blaine goes even faster, until it's all he knows. Paws slap against the pavement and it pushes itself on, panting as it finds the source.

The wolf stops in front of a building on the end of the city. It looks almost abandoned with broken windows and rusted green-ish paint but his nose isn't wrong. The wolf _knows _what it knows. Above the building is a sign but he can't read it right now, too focused on finding it, finding the source. Brittany rounds the corner and stops, "Santana!" she calls. "I think we found something."

Blaine wags his tail, the scent running over his skin, vibrating inside him.

Santana stops. "Holy shit." she mutters quietly, eyes widening slightly. She laughs and looks over at him. "Good boy."

"You going to stand outside all day or come in?" He growls defensively and Santana pushes Brittany slightly behind her but the woman standing by the door just laughs. She's small with short blonde hair but there's something off about her, from her smile to the way she moves as she looks at them dismissively.

With a start, as the smells wraps tightly around her, he realizes its power.

The woman smiles lazily, "Is it too cliché to say I've been expecting you?" she considers it and then waves a hand. "Hell, nothing is cliché when I say it; I've been expecting you."

"You've been expecting us?" Santana questions roughly.

"Unless Sue Sylvester has sent two lesbian-bisexual cheerleaders and a deliciously cute shape shifter my way then yes." She cackles as Santana and Brittany don't just blush, no they turn bright red or in Santana's case pales to the color of blank paper.

She pushes the door and it croaks as it widens, without looking at them, she walks back inside, "Are you coming or not?" she instructs and for some fucked up reason they follow her.

The woman's name is April. She's thirty-two, single, and "psychic and if you even try to call me a fortune teller then I'll smack _all _of you across the face with a pack of tarot cards, understand?"

"Crystal clear." Brittany says serenely, clearly fascinated by the woman, Santana grumbles something that might be acceptance and Blaine barks in agreement.

"So who wants to go first?" she says taking a sip of her drink-coffee not tea. "I'm guessing Blondie, by how excited she is."

Brittany grins at her.

"Go first for what?" Santana says warily, barely holding in her dislike for this woman who's not only outed her but scares her. No one should scare Santana fucking Lopez especially not some talkative half-pint freak.

April shoots her an irritated look. "For pedicures and bikini waxes, plastic tits. It's private and you'll find out when it's your turn, won't you?" she gives her an appraising look. "In fact I think you'll go last."

Santana's face darkens, twisting into something angry but April cuts her off. "You go separately or I won't tell you a damn thing."

She stands and nods at Brittany who grins reassuringly at them before following her behind a beaded curtain. April pokes her head back out, "and I'll have you know that I am not a half-pint talkative freak."

And so they're left alone in a room that smells too much like incense and metal for Blaine to really be comfortable, Santana scowls at the strange bottles and odd trinkets, the same way she scowls and ridicules anything that isn't normal.

She stares at the bottles, every freaking color of the rainbow, and she counts them dully, fear stabbing at her mind. What is the woman telling Brittany? Lies? Or the truth? Santana bets she's telling her how much of a coward she is, Santana with her cheerleader costume, her dragonskin armor. _Give me a C, give me an O, give me a W, give me an A, give me a R, give me a D. What's that spell? Coward! Coward!_

Santana bites down on her tongue and lets red fill her mouth as she keeps counting.

Blaine waits by the door, golden eyes trained on it, as he tries to think against the wave of the beast. His mind is clearer now, the beast covered in a sleepy haze as he breathes in the smell of smoke.

minutes/hours/years pass and Brittany steps out, looking not worse but different as she slides back into her seat. "Blaine." she says softly and the wolf pads past the curtains, the beads jingling in his ears.

April is sitting behind a round table, there's not a crystal ball in front of her but the feeling he gets is the same. Obediently like a good little dog, he jumps up into the chair across from her, it creaks on his weight but manages. "So your name is Blaine is it? Yellow." she muses, "it fits you with those pretty eyes you have."

Blaine huffs, and she laughs. "Trust me honey, guys can be pretty, I've seen my fair share of 'em."

She sighs. "I guess we better get to the serious part of this. You don't have time to spare." Her eyes narrow. "And that's hitting the bullet, isn't it? You're not a shape shifter at all, my mistake, the _sight _isn't always straight in a city this corrupted with magic. It bleeds it, you know."

Blaine's ears perk up and his tail thumps heavily against the ground; the source. The beast and Blaine want to find the source. "I'll get to that later, I promise. Right now is about you."

April smiles reassuringly at him. "Let's get to what I know has happened and then we'll get to the next. Your name is Blaine, up until now you've never even left you're home, this is the first time you've seen the world and you crave it, you're not a shape shifter but _cursed. _It's irreversible despite whatever Sue Sylvester says." As she continued her voice grew smokier, a husky quality to it. "She can't help you, no one can young shiftling, you'll be a wolf until your death."

She sounded almost regretful. The wolf-the wolf and Blaine didn't care, they were used to the feeling of regret, they breathed off of it. "That's the question, that's your future."

He pushed the wolf away, the dull acceptance he'd always clung to disappearing. He would die. He'd known that, he always knew that but face with it being flung so bluntly in his face and he couldn't handle it. He deserved more than this life, didn't he? _No! _he cried out, trying to speak but like always he was still the wolf.

"Calm down." she instructed and for some reason the wolf did. "Yes you'll die but you get to decide how. You have six months. Six months and two weeks, five days and fourteen hours before your body shuts down completely and you take your last breath."

Blaine waited, pulling back the howl trying to tear it's way out of his throat.

"That's one option. That is the option of time. But you have another and understand me right now Blaine Anderson, you only have two options and after you choose one you _cannot _change your mind." Right then, at that very moment with her husky misty voice and her dazed eyes, she wasn't April. She was April and fate and everything that had made Blaine what he was.

She was the future.

"Your other option is this. You can die in a shorter amount of time, no I am not going to say how much time you have with this one but it is shorter, much shorter. In this option you die by a choice you make, an important choice. You die a valiant death. A death brought on by something worthy. Love. This is the option of change."

She smiled knowingly at him, suddenly more April. "All your short life everything has been decided for you, by fate, by your parents, by the very blood vessels in your veins, and while you cannot change any of this, while you cannot decide your life you can decide your death."

The room grew brighter, shadows disappearing and suddenly there was sound again. He could hear Brittany and Santana from beyond the curtain, he could hear people in the streets going about their lives. Whatever spell she'd had was broken now and Blaine struggled to think.

April leaned over and patted his furry head, uncaring of the fangs or the glare he gave her. "To prove to you I'm telling the truth, in the next city that's polluted, you'll run into something unusual. Something good." She cackled. "Vague as hell. God I love my job."

The blonde stood up and cracked out the kinks in her spine. "Send in plastic tits, and take yourself and Brittany out to lunch, I believe-no I _know _we'll be here for a while."

Blaine jumped off the chair, landed gracefully on the floor and walked through the beaded curtain until he was sitting at Brittany's feet. Santana looked back at them before she stalked through the beads. Brittany leaned down and scratched it his ears and in response his tail thumped against the ground. "Let's go get some food." she suggested.

They ate at a fast food joint and Brittany graciously brought the food outside so Blaine could eat it. Afterwards when they both thought enough time hadn't passed, they walked to a nearby park. Blaine ran around the grass, barking and chasing at seagulls and squirrels while Brittany went down the slide and swung on the swing.

She laughed at him when exhausted he dropped down by her feet, lying on his back and panting. "I don't think I've ever seen you act so much like a dog." she said giggling.

The words tugged at him but he was hot and tired, mind heavy with April's predictions, his own thoughts, and the wolf's which considered only that of the chase.

Brittany stood and the sky was a dark dusky color as they walked back to April's, she seemed almost nervous and Blaine tried to distract her the entire way, purposely bumping into other people, chasing squirrels that weren't there, and just trying to be as supportive as he could when he wasn't actual able to.

The door was cracked open and she pushed it open all the way as they walked in but Santana and April were still behind the curtain, the same strange hazy feeling was there.

She sighed and just that sound, that simple exhale of air made him want to hug her. More than anything else in the world, at that moment all he wanted to do was be human so he could hug his friend.

He could never do things at the right moment.

He looked at her but she kept staring at the door and he tried to a frown but wolves couldn't frown, couldn't do much really emotion-wise and so Blaine curled under the shade of the table and waited.

A door slammed and Blaine woke up with a start, realizing at the same moment that he must have fallen asleep waiting. April sat in the chair nearest to him, drinking her coffee again. "plastic tits has run off." she explained taking a sip. "and tall, blonde, and leggy, went after her. They should be back in an hour but unless you want to see some first hand girl loving I'd not follow them."

If a beast could blush…

She grinned wickedly at him, "It's about time for you to change back. Brittany left some of your clothes out for you."

Blaine pointedly ignored her as he grabbed his clothes and disappeared beyond the beaded curtain.

April still laughed though, loud enough to echo off the walls.

He was tired. He was sore and tired, and half-asleep still. And the part that wasn't half-asleep was thinking about what April had said. Blaine was just distracted as he changed back and dressed quickly.

He was distracted and that's why he didn't notice that the bright sun had been down for at least five minutes before the heat start and everything shifted. That's why he couldn't recognize the _off _feeling.

"I have something to show you." She leads him outside and for the second time, Blaine walks the city, this time much more human as she leads him to the ends of it. They don't talk and Blaine just follows her.

Finally when his feet are sore and when he thinks that they can't go any farther she stops.

Blaine waits.

And waits, and waits.

Finally.

"Is that it?" He looks around but it's just trees, tall and thin with strong branches covered in leaves but they're just trees, nothing special about them.

April stares at him in surprise, mouth puckered and eyebrows quirked. "Huh? You can't see it. I was sure you'd be able to see it." she mutters, mostly to herself.

Blaine opens his mouth to speak but he cuts himself off, words dying in his throat as he stares at the horizon. It's as if it just _clicked _into place but suddenly he realizes what April wanted him to see.

"Oh god." he breathes out, heart clenching painfully tight in his chest,a thick lump stuck in his throat.

-end chapter-


	9. Chapter 9

**Author's note: **I'm so sorry it's been so long since my last update. I've just been very busy with school and my Glee Big Bang (which won't make the due date but I'll finish anyway) but anyway excuses excuses. Here's the next chapter as a bribe for forgiveness.

-line break-

The skyline was shadows, dark and pulsing, writhing and hateful bursts of shadows that clawed at the space around them and greedily ate whatever it could catch. Blaine stood in terror, frozen with a fear he'd never realized he had known he had as he took in the dark sky.

A hand lands on his shoulder and he jerks back, stumbling away. It takes him a moment to realize it's just April, she's only trying to be comforting. He wants to say sorry but he doesn't. "What is _that_?"

April looked up at the cloud of black that covered the sky. It wasn't exactly shadows or anything real it was just darkness. "That? That thing that you can see is magic. It's the left over residue from years of spells and curses, years of pain and suffering and mischief." She looked at him carefully. "It's what's in your veins right now, pumping in with your blood and keeping the curse going. Tied so closely with the very core of you."

"Is it dangerous?" he asked without thinking and then scowled. Of course it was dangerous. It had made him hadn't it? It was the cause of his pain, it was the crux of it all. How could it not be dangerous?

"By itself left over magic isn't dangerous, it's not anything- it just is. But something very dangerous has happened here. The magic has combined throughout the years and something recent has triggered this, has caused it be semi-sentient and now it's feeding off of the city and the people who live here."

Blaine looked away from it at last, "And what would that be?"

April shrugged. "Hell if I know. I have my theories but they're just theories."

"Enlighten me then. I'm sure anything will help." It's worse now. The heat under his skin, the prickling at being so close to something so powerful and so dangerous and being aware of it.

"The fey." She said bluntly. "The ones you fear, don't deny it, I can see it clearly in those big puppy dog eyes of yours. They're the cause. All of their spells and curses have polluted the city but it's taken a toll on them. They've grown weak and weary from centuries of magic and no strong source of fear and hate to live off of. So they use more magic, they cause more chaos and they kidnap more people in the hopes of getting stronger but it's just making them ill and feeble and reckless."

"Like Kurt." he says immediately and then added almost awkwardly, "and Karofsky."

April smiles wickedly at him but then it turns into something gentler. "Yes like _Kurt _but not exactly so for Karofsky."

"Can it be fixed?" Blaine asked, heat strumming in him and an edge of something prodding at his mind. It almost felt as if this was meant for him. He had some purpose here. Something was meant for him and he would find it.

"The way of magic is this; what is done can rarely if ever be undone." She sighed, looking down at her hands and the threads of unseen magic tied to them and reaching out a great distance to the vast endless sky. "This however _can_ be undone. It can be fixed but only if someone would be wiling to sacrifice."

"Are you prepared to sacrifice?"

Blaine didn't stray away from her gaze. "Yes." He'd already pledged his time to helping Santana and Brittany, pledged his life to saving Kurt. What else had he left to sacrifice?

She smiled but it was grim and suddenly turned, starting back for the road home. "Congrats on your choice, it is a valiant one." she murmured quietly and he followed after her, with one last glance at the sky that only those touched by fey magic could see.

Santana and Brittany were sitting at the table when they got back. Brittany greeted Blaine with a wide smile and a hug. "Did you have a fun time watching the ink well up?" she said cheerfully and he wondered what she meant until his mind went back to the pitch black _inky _sky.

He looked over at April but she shrugged, grabbing a pitcher of something likely alcoholic. "Yeah, Britt it was informative."

They slept at April's that night. All three of them crammed together in her guest room. Santana had grown tired of the place and of April though she said that they were leaving to find more leads in the morning. Unlike his friends he didn't fall asleep easily or quickly. He spent hours lying awake thinking about what April had said to him and what she had shown him. The light of the moon from the window was a constant reminder of the choice that he would have to make.

Though he did not know it Blaine had already made his choice. He'd already chosen his own death.

"Thank god that's over with." Santana muttered as they drove away from April's, the woman herself standing outside and waving at them, a margarita in her hand.

"She was fun and she made us sandwiches." Brittany said fondly, happily. Blaine slept next to her, still human for a brief while longer.

"They're probably poisoned."

Brittany laughed. "Can't you ever be happy San?"

Santana looked at Blaine in the front mirror and only spoke when she was adequately sure that he was asleep, even then it was still quiet but no less true. "I'm happy sometimes." she admitted.

Brittany's smile widened and she couldn't contain the joy on her face. "I'm happy with you too." she said and then curled up to get comfortable, joining Blaine in sleep and leaving Santana to her thoughts.

On Santana's face was a small-half smile, barely there if you hadn't been looking for it. She always loved that Brittany knew when she needed space, that she would never push her.

They tracked Sylvester's next lead for three and a half weeks, going through city after city but Blaine never smelled anything important, not the way it had been back at April's. All of them were getting frustrated, even Brittany who'd snapped at Blaine when he'd stolen one of her candies at a gas station.

It was worse for Blaine who had to deal with constant itchy feeling on his skin. It got worse the more they searched, growing more intense and spread out and he couldn't make it stop and he knew it wouldn't stop until they found whatever he kept smelling. That damn untraceable smell.

"Pull over." Blaine said, "It's somewhere around here."

"That's what you said about the last place, with all the birds." Brittany replied with her eyes closed and resting her head on his shoulder. "Besides it's nap time."

"Just pull over. Alright?" he said exasperated. It was definitely here. Like before he could feel the pull of the chase in his blood, he could hear the sound of paws against the gravel, he could practically see it.

Santana slammed on the breaks. "Happy?"

Blaine was already out of the car, searching for the smell. It was bitter and sharp and he knew what it was but he couldn't place it. It covered the town and the trees, it was on the streets and the park and it was just _everywhere _and _all around _them and he didn't know which way to go.

"You can't figure out the source can you?" Santana said dryly thinking of the long wait from last time and already pulling out her phone. She knew this was going to take a while. Brittany snuggled further into the cushion of the back seat.

Blaine huffed. Of course the one thing he was useful at and he couldn't even do it right.

"Brittany, come on!" Santana yelled, pulling, tugging the blonde behind her. She ran as fast as she could twisting between people and through alleys, following after Blaine. The wolf was quicker but she could still make out his defensive ears, could still hear his growl and it only spurned her on faster.

They stopped abruptly and she opened her mouth to speak, ready to yell at the goddamn idiot to move when she realized they'd hit a dead end. "Fucking hell." she cursed angrily. "What do we do now?"

Blaine barked suddenly, haunches tensing and he lunged forward suddenly, covering Brittany and Santana. In response she pulled Brittany behind her, as close to the alley wall as she could get. If whatever this was wanted a fight well they would fucking give it to them.

She knew when it came because the wolf, not Blaine, but the wolf, growled low and guttural, a fierce raw sound that made her bones ached.

All she could see at first in the dim light of the alley was yellow eyes, bright and piercing and strangely familiar. Then the rest of it appeared slowly, body slinking out of the darkness with a strange kind of grace.

Of course Blaine with his damn wolf nose and damn magical hints had found another fucking wolf. It was smaller than him, grey and looking more like a regular wolf than their overgrown mutt but it was more used to itself, a control that Blaine didn't have. Half preoccupied with fear and impatience she wondered if it was Karofsky though she disregarded the thought a few moments later when Brittany's hands tightened around her arm. "San, is he going to be okay-" she was cut off by the sound of snarling.

Without their notice Blaine had moved forward until either he or the other wolf had launched at each other, jaws first and snapping at anything they could reach. Blaine tried to use his weight to slam into the grey wolf but the other was faster and twisted biting at Blaine's neck and pulling him roughly down.

It was easy to see who was winning. The grey wolf was quicker and used to his body, able to use it to his advantage even if Blaine was bulkier but Blaine was clumsy and always just a second behind, stumbling over his feet and fighting hopelessly.

One of them-Blaine? whined sharply but they kept fighting, growling and biting and bloodying each other and all Santana could do was watch with wide fearful eyes. Hey she sure as hell didn't like the kid but that didn't mean she wanted him to die.

The grey wolf snapped forward with a particularly painful bite, jaws closing tightly over Blaine's foreleg and pulling sharply in the other direction-Santana thought she heard a crack but she wasn't sure. Blaine yelped but it was worse than before, it sounded like someone was killing him. He stumbled back hitting the alley wall roughly, dazed and confused.

The grey wolf didn't waste anytime, moving closer and getting ready to bite. Santana saw glimpses of its admittedly impressive and intimidating looking teeth. They were covered in blood. Blaine's blood.

Oh fuck. This was it wasn't it? Anderson would kick the bucket and she and Britt would be torn to pieces as a snack.

She didn't have that 'life flashes before your eyes moment' she didn't have anything close to that because she was still caught by terror, horrified and frozen by it and there was nothing she could do.

Something flew past her ear, a rush of air too close to her and the grey wolf whined in pain, swaying unsteadily on its legs. "Leave him alone." Santana looked behind her in surprise, forgetting about the wolf. Brittany stared at the wolf defiantly, another rock in her hand.

The grey wolf stared at her in confusion and then moved as if to step forward and Brittany raised her hand, fingers tightening around the rock. "I said leave him alone." she snapped sounding angry and fierce, so unlike Brittany that Santana wanted to pinch herself just to make sure this wasn't a really messed up dream.

At last the grey wolf cocked its head and then stepped back a few feet, until it was at the edge of the alley, partially hidden by the shadows. Immediately she dropped her rock and rushed past Santana running over to Blaine who by now was lying on his side, panting heavily and wincing.

Santana scowled at it, "you touch either of them and I'm making you a mount for my living room."

she touched his wounds carefully, biting at her lip as she tried to think of what to do. "I think he needs a doctor, San." she said quietly petting his fur gently and uncaring of the blood getting on her hands. "He's really hurt."

Santana cursed and pulled out her cell phone still staring at the fucking grey wolf who hadn't move a single inch. "What do you want Boobs Magoo? I'm very busy trying to figure out how to incorporate a fireworks display, a fencing fight, and a shark in our next Cheerios performance."

"Your dog got his ass kicked." She said quickly, speaking low enough so that Brittany wouldn't hear her. If anyone had connections in some random ass city it'd be Coach Sue Sylvester.

"You mean the munchkin from the Lollypop Guild?" Sue paused, "What happened?"

"Another dog decided to play." she said simply not wanting to upset Brittany and not a hundred percent sure how to phrase the fact that they'd been attacked and cornered out of nowhere. And Blaine had lost. He'd lost badly.

"Karofsky?" she said going back to Santana's own theory.

Santana frowned, looking at the other wolf. It didn't look like Karofsky and it didn't act like him but what did she know? The hobbit over there didn't act like himself when he was a wolf either and he sure as hell didn't look like it. "I don't think so." she said at last. "Not unless he's gone batshit crazy."

"Come on Blaine, try to get up." Brittany said comfortingly. "And we'll find some place safe okay?"

Blaine whined low and pained, but slowly at her urging got to his feet, almost topping over as he did. He leaned against Brittany and she smiled at him before looking up at Santana for further guidance.

She sighed and ended the call with a "Right, Coach, thanks" before turning to look at them. "There's a place Sylvester knows a few blocks away from where we parked. She's going to make some calls and they'll let us crash there for a night or two."

"Thanks San." Brittany said rubbing at her face and smearing a small bit of what might have either been dirt or blood on it. And without another word, without another look at the other wolf they left, both of them supporting Blaine as he struggled to move.

A few minutes later when they were far enough away the grey wolf looked around the alley and padded away disappearing once again into the shadows of the city.

A howl curled through the air, shaking the windows and the door, vibrating through the floor and almost through the quiet city. Towards the end it changed becoming not a howl but a scream that was just as inhumane, just as animalistic as its predecessor.

On the bed of their small and dirty motel room Blaine slowly and agonizingly changed back into his human shape, limbs cracking and shifting painfully as they tried to change around the wounds.

Blaine gasped breathless like someone had sucker punched him. His arm was inflamed with pain, burning bright and hot and somehow just as bad as the change had once been. Though the change was over he couldn't escape the white hot heat and he moaned in pain, trying not to move.

His now human arm was definitely broken. Actually in Blaine's mind broken didn't cover it. It was worse than broken, knives were digging in at the raw skin and muscle, delighting in his pain.

"Shit, I think I can see bone." Santana said digging in through the first aid kit. She'd had one packed in her car along with various other supplies.

"Should we take him to a hospital-" Brittany asked but she was cut off by Blaine who'd suddenly shot up, looking around wildly.

"No hospitals." he said frantically thinking of doctors and tests and impossible horrible situations of being captured and studied and dissected. He'd never been to a doctor. Not even when he'd lived with his parents, they'd always had their own someone who knew about his family. Someone the Family controlled. "No hospitals." he said a moment later, a little bit calmer.

"Okay, okay no fucking hospitals." Santana said but even she looked uneasy. "Just calm down before you hurt yourself."

Brittany took the first aid kit from her, pulling out the gauze and got ready to work. Slowly and carefully wrapping it around Blaine's arm. It wouldn't do much bur at least it would help him for now.

"You think you'll survive the night?" Blaine panted harshly, lifting his head to look up incredulously at Santana who by now had done her limit of good deeds pulled out a magazine and started to flip through it.

He huffed out a laugh wincing at the pain in his body. "Y-yeah, I don't think I'll kick the bucket for another day or so."

Santana and Brittany left a little while later to get food and more medicine leaving Blaine alone to his thoughts and bad television.

God he'd gotten his ass kicked. Why had he thought he'd been able to do it? He'd never fought anyone in his life and he'd tried to take on another wolf. He'd been surprised (as surprised as he could feel) seeing the other wolf but he'd been even more surprised by being soundly thrown into the dirt.

The wolf had been faster and stronger moving in a way he couldn't even imagine. Would he ever become like that one day? So in touch with himself and his damn wolf? No, he'd probably die before that. And besides did he even want to be like that? Sure the wolf had been faster and stronger but who was to say that he hadn't lost his humanity in the process?

He shook his head, trying to push the useless thoughts away, and then cried out suddenly at the pain. "Damn it." he muttered moving slowly onto his side and pulling the blanket tightly over him.

He was passed out in a deep sleep by the time that the girls came back with take-out. The smile on his face was the only sign of it's peacefulness and if pressed he'd admit that he'd felt unusually warm, strangely safe as someone or something had kept watch over him.

"You think he'll be okay?" Brittany said and Santana could hear the tone of worry in her voice. She sighed and pushed away her carton of chow mein looking at it mournfully. Even when he was sleeping Anderson was causing her trouble.

"I'm sure the puppy will be fine." she said sourly. "In fact if he's not I'll kick his ass and send him to obedience school."

Brittany giggled and flopped onto the bed, leaning against Santana and stealing a bite from her noodles. "I'm sure you will San."

The next evening Brittany helped Blaine change his bandage and she barely held back a shriek at seeing how much blood he'd lost. "We need to get you some help." she said firmly. "I don't want you to end up like Lord Tubbington's brother Duke Chubbsing. He lost his arm and had to go live down in Florida where they bring fish to you in a basket."

"Oh, I guess I wouldn't want that." Blaine said unsure of what to say though Santana just rolled her eyes.

"Our options are kind of limited since you won't go to the damn hospital."

"If you were me would you go to a hospital?" he shot back.

Santana laughed. "I'd kill myself if I were you Anderson."

Blaine rolled his eyes and carefully pulled on his shirt not bothering to change out of his worn and dirty jeans. "If I thought it would have worked I would have done it already." he muttered quietly.

Her eyes narrowed and he waited impatiently no doubt for the next acidic barb she could send his way but she was cut off by an impatient, rapid knock at the door. Brittany looked at her confused but hopeful, "Do you think Coach Sylvester sent us someone to help?"

"Be real Britt, she's more likely to send someone to kill us for failing then help." Santana said pulling open the door and barking out an irritated "What?"

"Who the hell are you?" she said looking the stranger up and down. He was dressed in an old band t-shirt and faded jeans that were short at the bottom. He was tall with tanned skin and a mohawk that somehow didn't look ridiculous. She'd never seen him before and if she thought anything of him she didn't show it.

He smirked cockily at her uncaring about the fact that she was glaring at him and looked ready to jab her nails into him. "Name's Puck."

She scoffed. "Well _Puck _you've got the wrong room." she said and started to close the door only to have him catch it. "Need something?"

His smirk widened as he openly ogled her. "Your phone number would be a good start."

Santana's eyes narrowed and Blaine could hear her nails clenching around the wood of the door threatening to crack it. "_Salir antes de que una patada en las bolas_."

Puck just laughed, "I'm sure you will. Mind if I come in?" he said and then without waiting for a reply walked into the room. Brittany frowned at him and Blaine struggled to think, thoughts heavy and plagued by a strange feeling.

Suddenly he realized what it was; the bitter and somehow familiar musky scent. It was one he'd carried with him all his life. "You smell like a wolf." he accused and the wolf howled inside him. Instinctively some part of him wanted to reach up and strike out. Another wolf was in his territory even if this was only his temporary territory. He wanted his blood in his mouth, he wanted to feel the weight of bones snapping, he wanted-

"Blaine." Brittany touched his arm, staring at him with concern and he smiled uneasily at her before looking up at Puck, the other fucking wolf.

"Why are you here?" he said gruffly as his arm wasn't throbbing in pain at the very thought. "One arm wasn't enough?"

By now Puck had settled comfortably into a chair and was flipping through channels on tv like he owned the place. He paused in his pursuit for bad hotel porn, "I'm actually sorry about that. I didn't think I bit that hard."

Santana rolled her eyes. "Tell that to the bone sticking out of his damn arm."

Puck frowned and leapt up from his chair until he was less than a hair's inch away from Blaine and his arm. "Is it really that bad?" he said trying to lift up the bandage only to have Brittany smack his hand away.

"Enough." Santana snapped. "What do you want? I have very little patience and I'm not afraid to use my manicured nails on your face."

He grinned at Blaine. "She's feisty."

In response Santana lazily waved her nails.

"I'm here to apologize for beating up the midget over here. I thought you were something' else and I reacted accordingly." He frowned again. "But I didn't think it was that bad."

Blaine shrugged, rubbing at his arm lightly. "I'll be fine. I've been through worse." He hadn't actually. Not physically. He'd never even broken a bone before and now he had one practically sticking out of his arm.

"Well how about I make it up to you?" Puck said cheerfully, snapping back into what Blaine assumed was his normal chaotic personality.

"And how exactly are you going to do that?" Santana said and she most definitely was not plotting out ways to torture this son of a bitch. Brittany and the mutt wouldn't allow it.

Puck paused for a moment and then snapped his fingers, grinning at his own brilliant idea. "I'll get your friend's arm fixed and then I'll give you a tour of the city." he smirked. "I know all the best places."

"I'm sure you do." Santana said dryly but even Blaine could see the way she was itching to explore the city, to not be stuck in a car or a hotel room.

They packed up quickly, efficiently and with a pang of home sickness Blaine realized that they'd grown used to this. Sometimes all he wanted to do was go home. It was sick really. He wanted to go back to his cage. But it'd been _his _after all. He thought he missed Wes and David the most. Even if he was growing closer to the girls they didn't understand him the same way, they didn't get some of his jokes or they didn't get what the reserved look in his eyes meant. They just weren't the same.

Santana was the last to leave the room and as soon as she was sure Brittany and Blaine were far enough away she grabbed onto Puck's shirt and jerked him back. "I don't know what your deal is, I don't actually care what it is. But listen to me very clearly. You hurt either of them and my threat from earlier applies." she said staring him down and not looking away until the good natured grin on his face disappeared.

"Got it." he croaked and then, confidence quickly coming back to him. "But if you pull any shit in front of my pack then we're gonna have issues."

She just rolled her eyes. Damn it of course he had to have a pack. She just absolutely couldn't live in a world where the was only two of them.

Blue eyes snapped open staring into the consuming darkness of his cell. Slowly he sat up trying to stretch as far as his chains would allow him. The chains were short and ended in shackles around his wrists and feet, binding them together and making it impossible to escape. With his bruised and pale skin, the dark circles around his eyes, and his bloodied hair he was a far cry from the boy he'd been only three months ago. Had it been three or was it four? What if hadn't even been a month?

He sighed the sound echoing around the empty space. Time wasn't the issue and if he kept thinking about it he'd drive himself crazy. Or rather even crazier than he probably already was.

But maybe time was the issue? He needed to find a way to get out before time ran out-no he was thinking backwards again, he'd already thought of a way out he just needed to use it.

He paused for a moment and then nodded to himself. Yes, now was the time. Without another thought he reached down and twisted his thumb, not letting go and tightening the pressure until he heard a snap. If he felt any pain his blank impassive face didn't show it.

It took him a few more minutes to get the rest of the shackles off and then he was at the door of his cell. He looked around his room once last time and then held out his hand straight in front of him.

The door blasted off it's hinging, landing on the ground with a loud bang and above him there was a roar of voices but they were no different than the ones already in his head and he stepped out towards his freedom, ready to fight and even kill. He wasn't going to be put back into his cage.

This time no one would beat Kurt Hummel down.

-chapter end-

Author's note: What Santana says is basically "Leave before I kick your/ you in the balls." but I apologize if it's wrong, I haven't done Spanish in roughly eight years.

Sorry again but the small hiatus but this chapter length should make up for it.


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